Bunkum Verbosa

kanakku

2010-03-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

pathinaarum petru peru vaazhvu vaazha
ettu poruthangal paarthaargal petrorgal
naalu kangal paarkavillai
irandu manam pesavillai
thani maram aanaal ippothu

பதினாறும் பெற்று பெரு வாழ்வு வாழ

எட்டு பொருத்தங்கள் பார்த்தார்கள் பெற்றோர்கள்

நான்கு கண்கள் பார்க்கவில்லை

இரண்டு மனம் பேசவில்லை

தனி மரம் ஆனாள் இன்று

ரயில் பயணம்

2009-04-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

முன்பின் தெரியாதவர்கள்

சக பயணிகள்

சமூகமாய் செல்கின்றோம்

இங்கே மத பிரச்சனைகள் இல்லை

தூரத்தில் தெரியும்

சின்னன் சிறு வீடுகள்

அவற்றில் எறியும் விளக்குகள்

அவர்கள் யாரோ

உள்ளுக்குள் ஒரு ஆவல்

பல ஊர்களை கடக்கிறோம்

சில வற்றில் நிற்கிறோம்

எங்கும் தங்குவதில்லை

நம் போகுமிடம் அதுவல்லவே

காத்திருக்கிறோம்

தாயாய் தாலாட்டுகிறது

சுகமாய் உறங்குகிறோம்

கூவென்று கத்தி எழுப்புகிறது

ஊர் வந்துவிட்டது

அவசர அவசரமாய் இறங்குகிறோம்

- குரங்கு கையில் பூமாலை தான் போ

முதல் முறை

2009-04-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

என் முதல் தமிழ் புதிவு. உபயம் பிளாக்கர் ட்ரான்ஸ்லிட்டரேடர்.
எல்லோரும் ஜோராக கை தட்டுங்க!

beam me back, scotty

2009-04-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

The rain sizzles on dry earth. The smell zooms me back to the past. Back to quiet, humid and lazy days at home, watching the rain dampen the front porch. The pitter patter that brought out the frogs, making me take a step back in fright. Papers floating away as makeshift boats under the tiny bridges formed by gateways to neighborhood houses.

The milk boiling away on the stove, takes me back to days when my mom or aunt prepared the mandatory afternoon coffee. So much comfort in the simplest memories.

An early morning jog, jogging memories of December in Madras. The sultry mugginess of pre-dawn summers in Chennai, spent watching the sun rise and in watching the artworks of neighborhood ladies.

A sleepless night, looking out of the window, takes me back to chennai powercuts, when the cousins would gather to belt out musical numbers, with scant regard to tone or tune.

Catching a glimpse of the 'goods' train, brings back or rather takes me back to those daily train journeys, with friends and strangers.

An ice-cream cone that always reminds me of movie-watching with dad, waiting for the interval when I would get the softie and then the race to finish it before it started leaking from the bottom.

Interwoven chains, but they don't really take you back. But it would have to suffice.

What are your nostalgic triggers?

Brat attack

2009-04-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

A favorite topic, right? Right.

Everyday is an adventure in Bratland. She is fascinated by chewing gum nowadays. She goes through a whole roll of hubba bubba in a day or two. So, I had to hide them from her. I thought that was the end of it.

Last week, during her piano class, she was fascinated by a piece of chewed gum some dumb... had stuck to the bulletin board. Her teacher was showing her a new song, while the dear little brat decided to decorate her teacher's hair. With a piece of chewed gum. That was not even hers! The teacher ended up losing some of her precious hair and the brat ended up losing some of her privileges. My friends ended up laughing. Seriously guys, it is not funny!

Remember moi?

2009-04-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

I don't have any reasons to justify my absence. But believe me when I say, I never meant to abandon you.

I missed you. I missed pouring my thoughts on to you. Part of them, anyways.

Talking about anything and everything under the sun - my favorite books, movies, brat attacks.

But you can take heart. I am back now.

With loads to tell. Really.

Jubilation!

2009-02-02T03:45:00.000-08:00

What a game! thrilling to the end!

Living in steeler nation, you cannot escape the effects! But what a way to be initiated!

No. 44

2009-01-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

There is anticipation in the air. The nation is ready for the transformation. Let us hope that he can do at least half of what he aspires to and promises us.

A proud moment for those folks who have walked so far, far from the days of indenture. To leadership that can rally the crowds.

A feeling of bhogi - out with the old rubbish and in with the hopes and changes galore.

brat art

2009-01-15T08:46:00.001-08:00

white out

2009-01-15T08:02:00.001-08:00

Slumdog Winner

2009-01-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

Congrats to the winners! A proud moment for desis worldwide!

On a side note:
Is it just me or did anyone else notice something strange about Frieda's outfit/pose? In all the pictures I saw online, she seems to be holding at least one of her hands tightly to her side. As if to hold on to her dress.

Adorable!!

2009-01-08T13:20:00.001-08:00

Kids say the darndest things. I thought my brat was exceptionally so. But get a load of these wee folks. You won't stop laughing! Don't forget the comments!

trains passing...

2009-01-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder what happened to them? The girl who talked dime to a dozen in class, the one who could make anyone laugh, the teachers who helped shape you and went away, the ones you couldn't stand and vice versa, the peddlar in the train who sold you bangles regularly, the co-passengers who couldn't tolerate your noise thereby making you noisier, that boy you had a crush on... Where did they go?

You meet someone and they make an impression on you even if you don't realize it right away. You will probably never see them again. Some might have moved on to different dimensions. But they remain frozen in your memories. Would you want to meet them again? That could kill those memories. Aren't they safer as they are? Safe to be relived anytime you wish.

Sister sister

2009-01-07T07:53:00.000-08:00

Being a single child, I was determined that my girl would have a sibling and she did gain one. There are times when one of us gets tired of the other. The two girls cannot sit next to each other without getting into a tiff within a short while. It usually ends with the younger one running to one of the parents complaining about the big bully. Most times, the truth is otherwise. But she follows the policy of she who yells the loudest gets heard the best. I have heard that dad and aunt had similar incidents.

Yesterday evening, we were waiting for dinner to be ready (cooker cool down) and the older one was going to take her shower. When it is dark, she is scared of going to any floor when no one else is around. We have tried to not indulge her in this and she has learnt her lesson. Her workaround is to drag the little one for company. This is one of the few times they don't fight.

The other times being when the little brat wants something from her big sis. She wanted to sit next to her in the flight. Only so that she could get to watch her favorite shows on the personal tv. Or help her with the computer games that the brat is currently fascinated with.

Life's little pleasures for the mom, surely. Squeezed in between long and frustrating bouts of mediation.

Tri-color blues

2009-01-06T10:37:00.000-08:00

Every Sunday night, there is a dip in the moods thinking about the heavy week ahead. This feeling is heightened especially after a vacation. An India trip is followed by a week of listlessness. A feeling of being in limbo. I noticed that I don't suffer alone in this. Part of it is jetlag, but a lot of it is also because we are trying to fit in with two diverse worlds. While in India, I get this feeling of no longer belonging there, an alien in my native land. Towards the end of the trip, I am actually looking forward to coming back 'home'. The constant noise gets to me, if nothing else. After the return, everything doesn't fall in place right away. Something jars. An eerie silence. What am I doing here so far away from my kith and kin! But there is no returning, at least for me. My world is right here, in between these two. I have this far-off hope of returning someday, but I really cannot. Because, what I want is to return to the home of 20 years ago. Or it could be that I am suffering from a serious case of indigestion after indulging in all that jet airways food.

We have this tradition of carrying a pack of sweets when visiting our near and dear. So when a bunch of them visited, they all brought some and they were all boxes of mysore pak. After a careful analysis, I have decided that Aavin's mysore pak (I thought they only had that sinfully yummy therattipaal that I single-handedly demolished) beats others hands down. Melts in the mouth even after languishing in the fridge for a whole day (the paak, not my mouth). It didn't last past that. Unfortunately, I didn't get to buy more of it. So I have this unfulfilled wish to get/make myself some. I used to make them quite often before the carpal tunnel days and I don't want to buy the rock hard ones.

Now, since I currently have the upper hand in the battle of the binges and bulges, I probably should weather it out, hoping that this craving dies a quiet death.
It is rare to find myself down a few pounds post a vacation, especially one to the land of chaats, dosas, halwa, theratti pal and whatnots. I think if I focus on that, plus the scrubbing and cleaning that would be involved in the post-process, I think I might prevail.

What vacation?

2009-01-05T09:05:00.001-08:00

Except for the somnambulism, it feels like a dream (he he, couldn't resist).
The 3-week trip went quickly as a wink and we are back to almost normal. Thanks to the cutlet from the spencer's super market in Ashok Nagar or thereabouts, a week of my precious vacation was spent recuperating from the dreaded belly bout. And so the remaining 2 weeks had to be extra packed to make up. Did a little bit of everything and a lot of shopping. Most of the time was spent waiting in traffic though. Arcot Road has become a parade ground - traffic-wise. So everywhere we went, the driver took us through panagal park (can you believe it, it is less crowded!).

Even though we have shifted base (within chennai), I didn't miss my childhood home at all, love my current place there. They even have a party hall that we used for the little one's big day. Seemed to prefer mom's cooking this time, rather than haunt the local eatouts.

Of course, we did eat out, although not as madly as our last trip. Tried the lunch buffet at Annalakshmi once. Having been turned away once before for lack of a reservation, I reserved a day ahead for the big family lunch we planned. We got there and found that they had cancelled our reservation because we didn't call again to confirm. Quite unprofessional of such a good restaurant. We had to wait a bit to be seated, but the food was awesome.

The Venkateswara boli stall on Arya Gowder road will probably remember me quite well. We were there almost everyday in the hopes of getting their famous alu bonda. It runs out quite fast and we missed it a few times. Their wheat halwa is also out of the world. There are 2 such stores (independent of each other) right next to each other, and the one closer to brindavan st is the (original) one I frequent.

Copper point @ GRT Grand days has some good dishes. Loved their alu roast and mirchi ka salan, along with the masala kulcha. The kids tried the alu dum and paneer butter masala, which didn't lack either.

I did visit Saravana Bhavan (my usual haunt) a few times, but the stomach didn't quite appreciate it.

Did a bit of soaking in the chennai season. Loved, absolutely loved, Urmila Satyanarayan's rama rasanubhavam. Excellent choreo, abhinaya, posture, accompaniments, can't say enough. Beautiful depiction of Guhan, Hanuman and Ravana, to mention a few. Priya Govind was at her usual best, with a margam. Loved vishamakara kanna, which seems to be this season's popular number. Her acompanying artists were excellent. Malavika Sarukkai's Ganga was a wash out (pun very much intended) in comparison. Lacked the vibrancy of the Ganga. After making the audience wait outside for almost 1/2 hour, the first song was about the flow of Ganga, at its sluggish best. Only one that I slightly enjoyed was the depiction of three events on the river - a lovers' tryst, a mother's angst and a devotee's prayer. Much of the performance was about the river's flow - literally. Have to say, most of the audience seemed to be from out here. There was a healthy number from the DC area alone.

Crazy Mohan's chocolate Krishna was very entertaining and a good time pass. The special effects (magic tricks) were relished by the girls, who were a little lost with the quick wit. But even they got some of the jokes. Got to see the well-touted mayor during a short break in the play.

Took the kids to VGP universal (golden beach to us old hands). They loved everything about it. The big letdown, ofcourse, was the restroom facilities. Totally grossed out.

Traffic was unbelievable. Looks like everyone has some kind of vehicle and they are all out at the same time. And the cup of public transport still overfloweth.

As my mom insisted (truly) that I buy some gold, I visited the new GRT, quite a few times. My biggest whine about it is the time it takes to bill and pay for the items. And I had to go quite a few times and towards the end, I vowed to switch my loyalty to a different store, if at all we are able to afford the gold prices in the future.

The one thing that I wanted to do, and didn't get around to, was catch a movie on the big screen there. Would have loved to take the kids to panchamritham.

Jet airways was very comfortable, especially since the kids were busy with their personal entertainment centers. Caught a bunch of good movies and loved their food.

Into the world of make believe

2008-12-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

I am totally addicted. I realized today that I have this intense craving to read. I have to read everyday, be it a boring news article or the latest paperback thriller. I have been reading a bit of this and that over the last few months that needs to be blogged about. When I read fiction, it is extremely hard for me to get out of it, and I envy those that can allot specific times to read.

First, my friend introduced me to the Black Jewels trilogy. BTW, why is it called a trilogy when there are around 6 books in the series! Although three books form one story and the rest are offshoots. Anne Bishop is the author and the books were unputdownable. I read through the night and finished it at about 3:15 AM. Fantasy has never been a favorite of mine, but I venture now and then. This one hangs somewhere equidistant from both fantasy and romance genres.

Currently, I am reading the second book of Michael Scott's Flammel series. Yes, the same Flammel made famous by Harry Potter in Sorcerer's stone. The first one, The Alchemyst, was an action packed read, targeted towards the teen audience. The second one is Magician and continues the story. Most of the characters are drawn from history.

Talking about juvenile fiction, the other one I am hooked to is the last apprentice series by delaney. I never was a fan of horror until this series.

A new mystery series that I randomly picked, the Blackbird mystery series turned out to be a good choice.

Jeffrey Archer's False Impressions was a nice ride. Typical of his books, the female protagonist wields her wit to overcome her adversaries.

Bebris gets back to Austen with Matters at Mansfield and just being in Austenland, albeit borrowed, is wonderful.

Then the new Nora Roberts book that I am saving for the flight, coz all her books are 'unputdownable' and I cannot afford that right now. I have a few more books in the pipeline, including the beedle one, that will have to wait until after I cross the seven seas and seven mountains (+ or - a few).

Of the movies that I enjoyed recently, I have to mention Varanam aayiram and Poi solla porom. Loved Surya in the first, and the freshness in the second. I thought that the story was good in VA, but lacked something in the dialogs. Didn't seem to flow naturally. Why, o Why did he choose Sameera Reddy? Absolutely love the songs. PSP was refreshing with the story and humor, with Naazar and Mouli doing excellent work.

Then there was Dostana, a thoroughly enjoyable fare. Of course, politically incorrect. But then, when has bollywood shied from that. Right from Padosan, taking digs at any section of society have always yielded laugh riots. So, except for Bobby D, nothing jarred in the movie for me. John's 6 and Aby Jr's acting made it extremely watchable. Priyanka right after watching Fashion (gritty fashion scene wonderful kangana) was a bit too much on the senses. I watched Mumbai meri jaan, would you believe it, just before hearing about the terror strike there. Well made movie, got me wondering why people enjoy inflicting such horror on others and the same things were probably happening around the same time.

May be this trip will see me at a chennai theater. The last one I saw there was tenali at the (extremely) stinky ssr there.

counting down

2008-12-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

A few more days before I visit home. Is it still home if it is a new home? Anyway, more than anticipation, there is this big need for rest. Not the usual heavy week, looking forward to the weekend kind, but something deeper. It will be a huge relief to see the man in my life again. For purely selfish reasons, to have a few hours to myself.

Saturday, a dialog with the tiny giantess -

brat: Mommy, when I grow up, will I get all your pretty stuff?

Me: What pretty stuff?

Brat: All the stuff to make my hair and face pretty.

Me: When you grow up, become a doctor (subliminal, eh?), earn loads of money and get whatever you want.

Brat: does that mean I have to buy everything, and not get anything of yours?

Me: You will probably get some of it. (Just to keep the peace)

I wondered if it was a case of tight fists or a fascination for what is there in front of her that got her going.

Brat: I want to be a doctor like Appa, he has money.

FYI, her view of 'lots of money', is a whole bunch of pennies, which of course the man is loaded with.

Me: Appa's kind of doctor doesn't make lots of money, you have to be the physical one.

Anyway, from there thoughts went to missing appa. She has always fascinated me with the way her mind works. She thinks everything through, which is more than what I can say for myself. That trait seems to have come from her athai.

Her latest topic of conversation is about death, rebirth and God. At this point, I think she has wrung me dry and probably knows more about it than me. For now, I stall her by saying she can ask Appa such questions when she sees him. I can't wait.

Life goes on...

2008-12-05T08:32:00.001-08:00

Over the last few weeks, I have tried. I start to write a post but am unable to proceed beyond a few lines. An eventful month, to say the least.

It was not my dad and it shouldn't have hurt, but I had to go through it yet another time. My father in law passed away 3 weeks back and we have all changed. It was expected, yet unexpected. We knew he was counting his days, but hoped he would be around to see the kids one last time. But in a sense, there was closure for his kids, which I will never be able to claim. Every death, near or far, takes me back to those black days when I lost mine. A death at 80 is not as horrible as one at half that age. A loss is a loss, but there is also the feeling that a life was well-lived. It was time and the rest of the family took heart in the fact that we did our best for him.

The tough part is for the m-i-l, to be uprooted from the life she knew for the last 50 plus years. Granted, there are no responsibilites piled on her shoulders, but the move is going to be tough on her.

So, I have come out of that haze. Preparing to visit at a tense time adds to the stress of temporary single parenthood. But, beneath all that, I am getting a break for 3 weeks, which by then, I will fully deserve.

There is a new respect for my mom, and the other moms who went through this at a much younger age, bearing the responsibilities on their shoulders, taking care of home, hearth and business. There is a new appreciation for the paper chores that my hubby takes care of, that I have been trying to handle. There is a new confidence that I can take care of everything if I have to. Although there is definitely no inclination for that.

Gaayab, choley gaache?

2008-11-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't! Been busy with a new job and more activities with kids.

Did my civic duty, which took an hour early in the morning. Longer lines are promising even though it is not the best when there is a meeting scheduled.

While I am here, I need to blow the trumpet a bit. Girl got into the final round of the regional 24 game. Got her mug in the local and all. This is a fun game. We use a deck of cards, pick 4 number cards and work it into an arith expression adding up to 24. You can +, -, X or /. It takes some getting used to and then you start seeing the patterns.

Imran Khan is so cute, looks ages younger, but still. Saw kidnap on sunday. As someone else reviewed, it was mostly a movie for guys, what with minisha lamba doing a mandakini a la ram teri...

Hari puttar was an unashamed copy of home alone and the funny knife scene from kungfu hustle (that is so funny, even when copied). And to think that there was a case against the movie. I think they filed it wrong. If instead of harry potter, the home alone guys had filed the suit, things would have been different. But then, we (as a nation) are experts in this kind of ulta-pulta only.

My younger one is going thru some j pangs as the older one gets some recognition. Big girl won a coloring contest recently (prize was a toysaurus gift card) and then the paper article. So the little one wants her pic in the paper too and dad has promised her one if she also wins a few laurels. Sowing the seeds of ambition. BTW, she wants to be a doctor. Why, because dad says that is where the money is. And she loves that. She is almost 6 and wants us to work more, so that we can make more money so that she can buy more stuff. matlabi! Can you imagine her at 20? Dad has started buying lottery every month or so.

Uh?

2008-09-24T10:10:00.000-07:00

Call from a recruiter -
Client wants to know when my EAD expires.
me - Don't have one as I am a citizen.
Recruiter - so you have a green card?
me- ???

Question

2008-09-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Scenario common to a lot of Tamil movies -
wife/girlfriend/female lead is wayward. The hero gives a resounding whack on her cheek and hey, look, she is now the "model" Indian woman.

My question is, if the heroine were to do that to the wayward hero, will he reform? Or does it have to be the slow and patient, ever-forbearing way?

Huh?

True feminism

2008-09-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

To me, it is when I don't have to worry if a leader is male or female, when being a female doesn't help or hinder what I want to be and where I want to go.

There are folks out there who think a woman's role is in the house. I did meet one dork like that, who insisted that his future wife would stay at home and he would deal with all outside matter. It is a different story that the wife he eventually married didn't think the same and the joke was on him. Then there are folks who think a woman should take over, irrespective of whether she has the ability, just by the virtue of being one.

When a person is not afraid to point at another's faults, without having to worry about being targeted by 'feminists'.

When a baby is born, and the first question people ask is how is he/she doing, not what gender.

When there are no more ads that promote fairness to be a stepping stone to success.

When having a female boss is not a big deal.

When a woman reaching the top is not a big news item.

And a personal favorite, slightly on the flippant side - when the woman of the house is no longer expected to cook.

True feminism is when it ceases to exist.

Information Quotient

2008-08-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

So the McCain is trying to lure Clinton supporters with his new ad. And the average joe might be pulled. How many of us know what Clinton's policies were compared to Obama's and the Mc's?

So the guy hasn't faced the violence of war. May be that is a good thing. How does being a POW make you a capable leader?

The reporter wanted to know what Michele Obama was wearing for her speech. Go Figure!

Another article surveyed people regarding their voting preferences. One smart lady was a Clinton supporter, but now plans to move to the other side. Why? The name is too weird, doesn't sound American. Wants to vote for a true American (link1, link2). In a few decades, the majority of Americans will have such 'weird' names.

PS: I am thinking of investing in a dunkin donuts. Then buy a t-shirt, may be.

You mean, there are others?

2008-08-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

Most of us are aware that Cheetah girls are doing bollywood tomorrow on Disney at 8pm EST. There was an interview in one of the newspapers and this line got me wondering:

Bailon: We got to see Mumbai, which was an amazing experience. That actually was the first place we ever went to, and it's like the third-noisiest city in the world.

That there are two other cities that rate higher than Mumbai in the noise index. I am assuming she didn't visit any other cities in India. So, what were those two?

The first time I visited India after moving to this country, was to my 'pukkaam' in Calcutta. I couldn't sleep for a few days, partly due to jetlag, but mostly because the street noises and bhajans ran through most of the night. Of course, it took only a few days to get back into the thick of it.

And then, I am reading a book that is partly based in Tijuana, Mexico, and it talks about horns blaring rather than brakes working, cause it is a sign of machoism there. Hmm! I think it goes much beyond that in India.

Oh Man!

2008-08-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

You might want to go out and buy some watermelons. There is a sharp indication that the demand might go up. Check this out.

A Texas scientist says the fruit contains bioactive compounds that relax blood vessels, much like Viagra.

PS: All the puns were unintentional. So I say!

A month? really?

2008-08-09T13:35:00.001-07:00

I didn't realize it has been more than a month since I last posted. Been busy, new job, adjustments, etc.
The younger brat starts public school this month. She is so excited. I hope she loves it as much as her other school. I am slightly anxious for her to fit in. Not just the fact that it is a move from a well-cherished montessori to a public one, but because she is a brat of the first order. Why, you ask? There we were waiting to pick up the older one from her camp, and this one gets carried away by curiosity and flicks the fire alarm switch. The building had to be vacated till they ok'ed it.
She can be highly amusing if you were not her parent.

We went to the mall the other day. Just a little one on one time for mom and dot. She looks at the dummy's dress in Pennys and advises me to lose some weight so I can wear such outfits. Do note here that her voice carries to a couple of nearby cities in her normal talking range.

She wants me to go to the hair salon, and make my hair straight like the other time. She doesn't like the curls. Oh, and color it blond.

She wants to be a dance teacher when she grows up. Not like athai or even amma, but like her ballet teacher. Boy, talk about coconuts!

Mike Man of the 80s

2008-07-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

Anyone who lived through the glorious 80s tamil filmdom cannot forget the face that launched a lot of Ilaiyaraja's golden gems. He caused quite a craze among the teenagers and youth of that decade. And when you remember him, you visualize him with a mike. Such was his fame as a reel singer. Now there is news that he is back.

He was the quintessential singer, who would cough blood (or by any other means) and die at the end of the movie. His broken tooth (supposedly) added to his charm. S, my best friend during that time, was totally crazy about him. She would watch the movies very early on as her dad worked in the film world. The following Monday, we would be subject to the story recitation filled with her own brand of sarcasm. And during that period I never missed watching movies. Yes, during that time I hardly saw movies at the theater. Only dear DD. Anyways, she had this total crush on Mike Mohan and some of it rubbed off on us. She would describe the scenes, costumes, etc and for us, it was like watching the movie. I loved watching oliyum oliyum when his songs came up. And I can't think of him without thinking of her. She taught me a lot about humor.

I have lost touch with this dear friend and would really love to get back in touch with her. I think she is related to Suresh Krishna (SIL). If anyone knows her, please drop a note here.

I am not sure if he can capture the audience as he did decades ago, but he is going to try. Lucky us :-)

PS: Anyone know which sun tv serials he was involved in?

A feast for the eyes and the senses!

2008-06-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

Opportune enough to be in town when Raja and Radha Reddy were performing at the SSVT in DC, I got to enjoy a wonderful performance. The auditorium seems to have updated(?) their sound system. As a result, there was some faulty wiring which caused us to wait outside until 6:30 (when it was scheduled). And then, to see that the first three rows were papered out. There was a 20 minute delay while they were getting the lights and sounds ready. When they closed the curtain, I thought that was also part of the testing phase. Thankfully, it was time for the show to start.

After a lengthy introduction, they started with maha ganapathi. I usually watch out for 2 things - good abhinaya and strong araimandi. Both seemed to be absent. I guess age has something to do with it. The second one was a tarana in eka tala by Pt. Ravishankar. Awesome composition. The dancing duo warmed up a little and it was enjoyable. They had added this piece in fill-in while their girls were getting ready, as they had just landed.

The next one, inarguably the best piece, was by Raja-Radha's daughter, Yamini. What amazing flexibility! Her Shiva tandavam was exceptional, her abhinaya for the navarasas, her footwork, her poses and especially her balance in holding those poses. I was impressed by how rigid her upper body was, when she went down in muzhumandi and back to araimandi. My younger girl declared her 'awesome' and decided she wants to do such poses when she 'growed' up.

Next was Bhavana's turn. But before that, the wiring went kaput and they had to change the sound system. Through all that, Bhavana stayed a pro and didn't move a muscle. While the other girl had showed her prowess in tandava, this one showed her prowess in laya. Oothukadu's composition on kalinga nardhanam was beautifully handled by her.

The finale was by Raja & Radha Reddy. The first half was the ras leela of Krishan and Radha, while the second was Krishna's gitopadesha to Arjuna. The duo were in their elements here. Except that Radha seemed to find the tai-ha-tai-hi sections a little too fast and her hands were below shoulder level. But they didn't seem to hinder the audience's enjoyment.

Usually, when a dancer's child performs, there is a more than normal critical eye watching for faults. The two girls seem to have surpassed their parents. Of course, they still have a way to go, but they are very much on the right track.

The live orchestra added the needed support. Nattuvangam was by Kausalya Reddy and was commendable.

On a tangent, Kausalya is Radha's siser and Raja's second wife. Bhavana is her daughter while Yamini is Radha's. But they seemed quite a team on stage. That in itself is something.

Of course, that has nothing to do with the fact that they put up a wonderful and amazing show.

Favorite literary characters

2008-06-24T06:33:00.001-07:00

Altoid has tagged me and since this is a favorite topic of mine, I am going to be prompt at responding. I am sure I share a few of these at least, with fellow readers. While thinking about this, I remembered writing about it some time back. Good to know my memory is somewhat intact.

I had listed these then.
Scarlett O'Hara - of Gone with the Wind. A definition for optimism. The never say die woman, not perfect, but possessing a lot of strength.

Tracy Whitney - (If Tomorrow comes) Another one for strength, courage and smarts.

Howard Roark - (Fountainhead) Believed in his convictions.

Wooster and Bingo Little - (PGW creations) funny dudes

Dumbledore - (Harry Potter series) Basically, the likeable old guy. The grandfather figure. I still like him, inspite of the shades of grey in the last book.

Samwise Gamgee - (Lord of the Rings) loyal like Hanuman :-)

Elizabeth Bennett - (Pride and Prejudice) No pretense in the land of pretensions

Atticus Finch - (To kill a mocking bird)Good samaritan and a good father

Sirius Black - (Harry Potter series) the underdog, unlucky fella, true friend

Hercule Poirot - (Agatha Christie creation) for his grey cells

I have to add Ron Weasley to this list. Also, Draupadi as Chitra DB portrayed in palace of illusions. Then, there is Birbal from the ACK days, Cleopatra (a book I read long ago of the same name I think), Vandiyadevan (Ponniyin Selvan), inspector Sartaj Singh (Sacred Games), and many, many more. I know, only ten for the tag, but seriously, it is hard to limit to 10.

I will pass on the honors to Rads.

And the let down - The Ten

2008-06-16T05:51:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of anticipation for Friday night, eager to see the ten on the big screen. The show, supposed to start at 7:45, started close to an hour late adding to the already long haul. Touted to be kind of a pathbreaker in make-up and special effects, it was a let down in those departments. I loved the chola period piece - although the movie failed to establish the connection between the past and present, except to show the statue resurfacing. A bit of a stretch there.

The violence that started in that first part didn't reduce in severity and that was a big drawback for the movie. Rather than adding to the movie, it took away. Does Kamal seem to prefer showing more than necessary violence in recent movies? It is not always needed. Thankfully my younger girl slept through it whereas my older one hid behind her fingers whenever it got gruesome. On hindsight, I would have preferred to have not taken them.

The make-up, oh the make-up. Enough has been said about the shoddy job done on the 'American' roles and the 'paati'. He did go through a lot of trouble to do it, but he needs to know when to draw the line. He could have had an international cast and the end result would have been much, much better. The Japanese role was slightly better.

The one that really took the cake was the telugu one. Balaram Naidu got the theater in splits. His face said it all, when a guy introduces himself as Narasimha Rao. His wig for the scientist role looked too artificial. Paati's role had some laughs too, but the make-up spoilt it. Poovaragan was good - the make-up, the accent and the walk. Some of the characters were well-etched. I would really love to see a spin off on Balaram Naidu, great potential there. Some of the characters seemed to have been added on, just to show what he could do with a bit of make-up.

Asin had a good role, suited her, though a little dumb at times. A huge cast, some of them showing up for hardly a minute or so, made it kind of hard to keep track of everything. Mallika Sherawat got a small role (considering the length of the movie). Tamil song in a las vegas strip(?) club. Gruesome end. If he could have, may be he would have done Asin's role too. When I said that to my s-i-l, her remark was that, it would have been 'asingam' instead of asin. A PJ, I know.

The climax was laughable w.r.t. special effects. Couldn't they do a better job of showing the tsunami? Looks like they ran out of money when it came to that. But the places where they show two (or more) Kamals fighting looked good. At times, you forget that some of these characters are done by the same person.

There was his usual debate about the existence of God. Why did they have the moorthy on stage when he gives his final speech? Considering his beliefs, the fact that he did the Nambi role with so much conviction and aplomb shows how good an actor he is.

Having said all that, the movie was entertaining, if you could forget the two major glitches (Makeup and special effects).

Build up

2008-04-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

After a long time, I am really looking forward to a Kamal movie. They have given it a lot of build up. Here is a peek from youtube.

The movie has passed through the clippers yesterday. People raving about it after seeing the beta version. The audio releases tomorrow.

"Easy" mac

2008-04-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

It is normally easy to fix easy mac lunch for kids, as the name implies. Duh! That was the menu for the kids' lunch today. All you do is open the cover, remove cheese packet, pour water upto the mark, zap for 3 minutes, mix with powder and transfer to lunch box. Easy, right? Except that I missed a crucial part. After about 2.5 minutes in the zapper, I noticed that there was an unusual amount of smoke swirling behind the glass door. Opened and almost choked on the fumes. Definitely toxic. Closed the door, opened the windows and the back door to let fresh (cold) air in, so that I could breathe. Luckily, once I threw the container, there was no mess left. Except of course for the smell of smoke that seems to have taken residence with us.

Yep, water is very essential to any kind of cooking!

Palace of Illusions

2008-04-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

I usually faithfully read all of Divakaruni's books, though I haven't liked all of them. I was going to wait, but Rads'review intrigued me. That this book is based on one of the greatest epics ever.

I have to say, firstly, that this is a well-written book. Especially if you have read Mistress of Spices. The style is smooth and not at all abrupt.

I have read bits and pieces of the great epic in its English Translation. And as far as I can recollect, I don't think I have read the Draupadi/Karna angle before. May be I skipped that part or may be it is a regional thing. I have always heard that she was devoted to Arjuna. Since reading this book, I have heard of other Bengali works that mention the same angle. And we know that works on the epics can alter a bit, according to the origin of the writer and suspension of reality is a norm in these cases. All the characters are infused with CBD's visions of them - a tiny bit is visible in the spices used for the brinjal fry, the yearning for fish curry and a couple of other instances that struck me as typical Bengali at that time.

Most of the events related coincides with what I have read earlier. Although the viewpoint differs. Divakaruni has weaved Draupadi's personality in such a way that the story flows very well and through her. In fact, all her characters are very well-etched. Kunti is shown as an archetypal mother-in-law, wanting to make sure her position among her sons is unshaken by Draupadi. Kunti's subtle power struggle, Drupad's vengeance, Dhritirashtra's jealousy, Gandhari's wifely devotion, Duryodhan's hatred, Karna's loyalty, Drona's love for his son, they all are very much alive in this book.

Vengeance is what Draupadi learnt in her cradle, and that is what feeds her later in life. As a brash young woman, she is ready with her barbed words. Over time, she learns to tame it some. She is shown not as a paragon, but as someone with a lot of faults. In short, human. And that is true for all the characters in the epic. Even Yudishtra had his faults. As human beings, we are all fallible. To me, that is something Mahabharata teaches - to accept one's faults and learn to live with them.

Then the war. The havoc it causes. When there is no fairness in it (is there ever?). The inhuman side of it. How even good men lose a little of their soul in the killing. (Harry Potter and horcruxes, anyone?) The aftermath, that is worse than the war itself.

Above all, there is Krishna. The cushion that helps devotees when they land hard. Although, there is no sermonizing, far from it. A hindu fanatic might take a cudgel against her for writing Draupadi in such a light, with an improper yearning. But, it needs to be taken as a work of fiction. A fantastic one in that.

The king of pickles

2008-03-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

One of the best reasons to look forward to spring, is the advent of the mango season. And it is heralded by the appearance of those tiny baby mangoes. Which brings forth a load of nostalgia.

I have fond memories of my mom using the stone container to marinate the tiny mangoes. And of me finishing half of them before she got around to adding the spices. Older than that memory is the one where I sneaked into my paati's maavadu jaadi, grabbed a handful, washing them in the warm tap water and happily snacking away.

Ever since coming here, I had to satisfy myself with store bought bottles of maavadu, supposedly just like homemade. None of them really had that special taste. Then my uncle-in-law recommended the thangam brand from thaayaar dairy (for the uninitiated, it is near Mambalam station and I highly vouch for it). We were hooked. My luggage on return trips from India definitely included a couple of packs. They are packaged nicely for such trips.

So, when I saw these baby mangoes at the Indian Grocery, I was tempted. I was unsure, but was willing to give it a try. I called my mom for her recipe and tried my hand at pickling. Maavadus can easily spoil if not pickled properly and I was worried that it might not marinate well. So I was shaking the bottle every chance I got, to make sure that they were pickling nicely.

I was hesitant to try it, mainly because I made a very tiny batch and was afraid it would be gone quickly, just like the huge batch of mango pickle (molaga maanga) from last week. Anyway, I found the courage to inaugurate today and I have to say, it has turned out ok. May be not thangam maanga ok, but close. I am thinking I could have made a bigger batch. But then that would have invoked the most famous cooking law - the smaller the amount, the tastier it is - or rather, its corollary.

Spring break!

2008-03-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

Had a wonderful vacation, though short!

Sometime back, I read this book, Daughter of the Stars by Phyllis Whitney. It is based in Harpers Ferry, WV. I was intrigued by the place and decided to add it to my vacation plans. It is not too far from where we are and one can spend half a day easily. Most of the interest is due to John Brown, when he raised a voice against slavery, a pre-cursor to the bigger movement. It is at the junction of three states - MD, VA and WV and 2 rivers meet - Shenandoah and Potomac. Shenandoah is an Indian name meaning Daughter of the Stars. Jefferson spent a lot of time here, and there is the Jefferson Rock, which is a great spot from which to view the 3 states. There is canoeing/rafting for those interested. The season starts in April, so it was not crowded. The picture shows the confluence of the two rivers.

From there we drove to Williamsburg, VA (thankfully avoided I495). Since we had already been to colonial Williamsburg a couple of years back, we decided to concentrate on the rest. While the old man spent time chasing holes on the green, the girls and I visited Yorktown and Jamestown. A good doze of history to be had. Then there was Busch Gardens. It was a lot of fun, dug a big hole in our pockets and one day was not enough. We missed some of the shows and it was cold for water rides and the sky ride. But the kids had a wonderful time and so did we.

A short drive brought us to the Chesapeake beach, but it was too windy and too cold to step on the sands. But we loved the underwater bridge tunnels.

There is also the Presidents Park close by, which is worth an hour or so. All the presidents' giant busts, a replica of the oval office and half of airforce one, can be toured in a quick trip. That is Coolidge in the picture, with Abe taking up a little of the background. The kids had fun reading about presidential nicknames (sounds like a Jeopardy category!).

Food was no problem as there are all types of cuisine to be had. The lone Indian restaurant was a pleasant surprise and had a decent fare as well as decor. And that is a lot to expect indeed! The thai place was good too, except the husband decided to order thai hot, which is worse (or better) than Indian hot. Each spoon of Panang curry needed a glass of water.

Like all other good things, it went by quickly and I am already thinking about my next vacation, another mini one, this time to the cradle of liberty!

Raghuvaran no more?

2008-03-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

I saw somewhere that he passed away on March 19th due to his alcohol addiction. I haven't seen anything in the major sites. That is a sad tale.

Phenomenon!

2008-02-29T08:04:00.000-08:00

A few days back while on the phone with the in-laws, mom-in-law mentioned this remarkarble and unbelievable phenomenon that was on jaya tv as she was talking. Something that someone had not only witnessed, but also recorded with his cell phone. It is now up on youtube.

So siddhars do exist outside of SunTV soaps, eh?

Sad news about writer Sujatha

2008-02-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

All good things must come to an end. Came across this article about writer Sujatha's death. Story on Behindwoods.com.

One of the few writers that I read in Tamil, he was well-appreciated among us for his science-themed fiction. The one who made Gino come to life. I didn't know he was Abdul Kalam's classmate.

Sad!

Eastern contemporary dance

2008-02-22T10:18:00.001-08:00

Of late, there seems to be a plethora of dance groups performing fusion dances. They are based on classical styles but seems to draw from other styles too. Recently, I happened to watch a bunch of techies in art. A group of collegiates from Bangalore performed a few numbers that were wonderfully choreographed. The music, they said was drawn from various sources - oxygen, morning raga and so on. It was tailor made for their items. There was one on trimurthi, one on Dasavatharam and one on ramayanam. The choreography to depict kaliya nardhanam was awesome, as was the final fight between rama and ravana. The kids enjoyed it too, which is something. And that is the whole point - passing it on to the younger generation. It may have to be adapted, but it cannot be allowed to die.

Out of hibernation

2008-02-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

Been some time. I do feel like a sloth, hence the title. I am still getting used to white weather and not sure if I will ever be acclimatized.

I have been reading a lot since I seem to spend a lot of my evenings shuttling the kids to one activity or the other. Madras on rainy nights by Samina Ali was one of the latest. Yet another Indo-American author with her first one. Interesting. Gave a glimpse of muslim India at a depth previously unknown.

Then there is my favorite gaslight mystery series by Victoria Thompson. I have finally managed to get up to date with her books and am eagerly awaiting the next one. Her series deals with murders investigated by an Irish detective and a high-society-born-married-down-widowed-midwife. There is another underlying mystery about the midwife's husband's death and the next book is apparently about that. Set in very late 19th century New York, the police commissioner in the series is Teddy Roosevelt, the soon-to-be prez. I got curious and googled and found that he served as a NY commish for 2 years. The atmosphere depicted seems a lot like India, a few decades back. Could easily be adapted to tamil movies.

On a segue, the little one has started music lessons (carnatic and piano) this month and it is a trial to both the teacher and the parent. She can't sit still for a minute. Looking at the positive side, I am learning to play the piano.

The big baby has turned out to be near-sighted and is proudly wearing her extra pair of eyes. She is extremely happy that she can read the time off the cable box.

Absolute gems

2007-11-20T18:33:00.000-08:00

Needless to say, I am a big fan of Shankar Mahadevan.

reel lines

2007-11-08T07:11:00.001-08:00

I came across
this article on the most popular lines from movies.

Top 10 must used film lines:

1. "I'll be back." ("The Terminator")

2. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." ("Gone With The Wind")

3. "Beam me up, Scotty." ("Star Trek")

4. "May the force be with you." ("Star Wars")

5. "Life is like a box of chocolates." ("Forrest Gump")

6. "You talking to me?" ("Taxi Driver")

7. "Show me the money." ("Jerry Maguire")

8. "Do you feel lucky, punk?" ("Dirty Harry")

9. "Here's looking at you, kid." ("Casablanca")

10. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." ("Dirty Dancing")

We have some like this in Kollywood too. The most popular ones are from the boss, Rajini. In fact, it has become a necessity for his movie to have some "bolded" lines that his fans can repeat. "naan oru thadavai sonna, nooru thadavai sonna mathiri".

There was "thagidu thagidu" from Sathyaraj.

Then from my most favorite movie of all times - "catch my point" and "chinna meena pottu periya meena edukkanum". And there was that "aaay" that was heavily plagiarized from this movie.

Long time ago, they made a movie with Ranjan as the villian, who locked the heroine and spouted - "avaa othinaa iva varuva". Not sure how many people recognize this. This from the days of DD dominance, when watching the sunday night BW movie was a big deal. That line was extremely popular in school. As was "naatha... naathi" from Santha Sakkubai.

What are your favorite lines?

The years go by, as quickly as you wink

2007-11-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

I learnt this song a long time back (gosh! has it been THAT long?) in school - Enjoy yourself.

We used to love singing this song, really loud. Well, what do you know, another year rolls around and what do I have, doc tells me I need to check my cholesterol levels and make sure everything is ok. I guess this is the beginning.

I am in denial!

Back in action, slo-mo tho

2007-10-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

So I am back! Didn't think I would, did you? New place, new home that's not yet home, mom duty have all kept me quite on my tippy toes. Also, I suspect a lil bit of dep., and the cold weather doesn't help.

Was it a deja-vu that happened today? I am not sure. As I tried to park my car for my habitual gym visit this morning, the lady next to me was trying to back out. Without a backward glance. And I was right there. It took me a frantic couple of seconds to force down on the horn to let her know - excuse me, could you hold on just a second while I park and get out of your way? Missed by a hair's breadth. After an hour's toil, I back out of my space, after waiting for a van to pass. I am pretty sure I braked before trying to change from r to d. Next thing I know, I am stopped by the wall behind me and I am left wondering how that happened. I guess it is better to have a small dent in the bumper than one on my head.

It is kind of unnerving because, recently, I almost missed another such. I was waiting for the left turn light, one late evening. I start to turn, when a car comes rushing straight from the opposite side, not giving a flying eff about the traffic signals. It was too dark to see if this was a sleepy head or a drunk or a devil trying to mow me down. Luckily my brakes held solid and worked at the right time. It took me a long time to stop shaking. At the speed that the other moron was going, he (yea, I say he) could have done some serious damage. And he didn't slow down at all.

Now if only if my brakes had worked as well today too, I could have been saved that embarrassing dent in the bumper.

Ahoy, me hearties!

2007-09-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

What is the purpose of a "talk like a pirate" day? I don't know, but it is fun to try.

In case you need a primer

A new chapter

2007-08-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

The move is done. Physically to speak. We still have countless boxes to open, cupboards to fill, walls to paint and art to display. It can wait for now. A new routine, a new outlook and a new schedule. Getting used to it all. Weekly visits to see Sri Venkateshwara and eat some yummy prasadam. New places to discover. Would be exciting, if not for the blasted bout of cold.

I feel disconnected to everything, a feeling that it is a vacation, that we are going back to our old home. There is also a feeling that this is not going to be permanent. Is this what it is to be uprooted? Even though the roots were only a decade or so old?

I will have to wait and see how I feel in a month or 2.

My story

2007-08-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

I am a widower. Are you curious? You want to know how my wife died? I don't know if I even qualify to be called so. Now you are more intrigued, I can see. My marriage was a joke. In fact, my life so far has been a joke. Played at my expense.

I was quite popular in college, and I say that without any arrogance or conceit. Naturally, fell in love with a pretty girl in class. We carried on for almost 4 years. We broached the topic of marriage to our respective parents. That is where trouble #1 started. I was (am) brahmin-born. She was a Syrian Christian. My parents prevailed. As did hers. Like in the movies, I was forced into a marriage. To a girl I barely knew. And that was trouble #2. Why, you ask? I had apparently married an emotionally unstable woman. In short, a crazy one. She was certifiable. The family thought she would be ok after marriage. Yeah, right! The wedding night turned into a wedding nightmare. No sooner did they leave us alone, she started her act. When I tried to calm her, she turned her crazy claws on me. The kith and kin helped drag her out, leaving me in tatters, literally.

I told them to take her away and get her institutionalized. They didn't. Are you surprised? I was stuck. Not that I cared. I was kind of relieved to be single again. If not Rosie, then I didn't care. When people asked me if I was married, I was not really sure what to say. So, sometimes I said yes and sometimes no. Depending on where I was. My mom was on a guilt trip. It was her brilliant idea to get me married, wasn't it? I had no sympathy.

Then one day, out of the blue, I heard that my wife fell off the overhead water tank and died instantly. At least, she was freed from her suffering. And I am still in the thick of it.

My mom has started pestering me gently about another marriage. She is even willing to overlook religion, language and/or caste. A few years too late, I say.

Inspired by a couple of things - one, someone I know. Two, this.

Caffinity and a question

2007-08-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

Not the burning question of the moment. But I got to thinking about my dependence on tea. On to people's dependence/addiction to caffeine. Then wondered how and when it started. Do you remember when you started drinking it? I don't. I remember sitting on my daddy's lap, waiting for the coffee to be "aathufied" so that there was a thick layer of foam on top. Slurping it up so that I had a foamy moustache. I did not want it given little by little, it had to be foamed to the top.

I could not drink anyone else' coffee except my mom's. Peaberry A and Peaberry B with a touch of chicory, well roasted was how she made it. 2 and 1/2 heaped spoons in the filter. First decoction. Not bitter at all. While in college (out of rather, since we cut classes quite a bit then), I tasted woodland's tiffin room's coffee and I loved it. Cafe du monde's coffee made it to the charts too. Until I graduated to flavored coffees at the local bagel store.

A decade ago, I switched my allegiance to tea and have been going strong on that. Especially Trader Joe's chai tea bags, if there is no assam tea handy. Strangely, I have developed an intolerance for coffee. I do like the aroma, and even tolerate it in tiramisu and such. But I am a total tea drinker now. Of late, I have been thinking of may be giving it up. May be. Or Not.

So the question is this.
When did you first start drinking coffee/tea?

(note: this will not kill any cats)

close encounter of a moushy kind

2007-08-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

During my last trip to homebase, as usual, trudged along to the alphabet cloth store for the customary shopping mania. "Pall"avan, our rented car's driver, dropped us off at the corner, and went off to park. Pallavan, if I were to describe him, was a couple of teeth, sticking to a reed, with a mop of curls attached. May be he lacked some fat in the cranium too. We come back after a few hours (more or less), look for him outside the store, in the busiest section of Chennai. The kids are hungry and so are we. Finally spot him, or rather he spots us and we follow him with our 2 huge alphabetized bags. We go to this underground parking, which unbeknownst to us, belongs to the brahmandamana store, owned by the veshti clad country fella. We walk towards the car. We are stopped. At first, all I see is this humongous "meesai". Attached to the meesai is a hefty with a baton. He won't let us go. I am told to go the brahmandamana store and buy something for at least 100 Rs. As it is, I am not impressed with the wares sold here, and on top of that, I am being forced to buy. I might even have thought about it, except that the kids were starving. It would have meant at least 1/2 hour to finish the purchase. So I tell meesai, no way dood. Babies are starving, senti mummy stuff. Meesai is tough. Pallavan decides to play hero. He didn't know we were going to the 'wrong' store Probably true, ding bat that he was. We manage to get in the car. Meesai brings 2 adiyaals. Pallavan's rattham boils. Words traded. Strong ones. I had to intervene and play the women alone with kids angle, strongly. Quite strongly. My mind was running headlines - women accosted in underground parking. Finally, they decide to let us go. Relieved to have averted that scuffle.

After that day, I preferred using the friendly neighborhood autokarans.

Alphabet clothing store needs to provide parking.

Recent Books

2007-08-02T12:09:00.001-07:00

A mini-vacation (as in not the usual work) gave me a chance to read a couple of interesting books. Both were by 2nd generation Asian immigrants and part of the reason I was drawn to them. Of late I have been getting into this subject, probably because I am nodding my head a lot while reading them.

Hindi-Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan

There was so much I could relate to in this book. It was a quick and engrossing read. The recipes that were woven into the story made it a little more real. Each chapter had some kind of food thrown in, with the recipe(s) added after that chapter. The story itself was so believable. Having a few close friends like the protagonists made it more real for me. Not exactly chick-lit, but close.

Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas

Another 2nd generation memoir, that is mildly funny. Made me think that they are not much different. She writes about the different types of uncles and aunts and I could so relate to that.

Some more books that I hope to read in the near future:
Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee (No, haven't read it yet!)
I might also give Amulya Malladi's books a chance, starting with the Mango season.
Monsoon Diary by Shoba Narayan

Then there is Khalid Hosseini's thousand splendid suns, a must read.

As usual, so many books and so little time.

Regarding Harry - Almost Closure

2007-08-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

JKR's chat transcript is on mugglenet here. Answers a lot of open issues.

Victory??

2007-07-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

Churidar clad women can visit the temple @ Guruvayoor. First reaction - Yaay! The last time I visited, I sweated tons in a silk saree, having to wait while a special closed doors pooja was going on. In December.

But then, I think. As long as you respect the premises for what it is, are they right in barring the way for non-Hindus? The land of Sankaracharya should show more tolerance, right? I have heard horror tales of the power play that happens in such big temples. Living in the service of God, some people feel so close to Him, that they start feeling/acting like one too. Who decides what is right and what is wrong?

Are the guys still supposed to attend in mundus/veshtis? When are shorts going to be in the allowed list?

I have never been barred from churches and durgahs, so isn't it right that we reciprocate? It is a place of worship for us, but it can be a place of peace for others. I enjoy visiting churches for that calm that washes over me, just like the smell of camphor and basil. Good things need to be shared, right?

YES! More HP to come

2007-07-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

I knew it. She is giving in and giving us what we need! An HP encyclopedia.

Read it here.

iyarkkai

2007-07-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

pookal
ethanai ethanai
manjal pachai
sivappu ootha
nirangal
ethanai ethanai
iyarkkai annai
magizhchiyil
vaanavil bhoomiyil

bhoomi
manappen kolathil
pachai pattuduthi
poocharangal aval koonthalil
kathirukkiral
vaanadevanukkaga

bhoomi vellai porvai
porthikondu urangugiraL
vaanam avalmel
mayyal kondathu
aval porvai vilaga
panithuliyai
thoothu anuppugiraan
karummegangalai
thoothu anuppugiraan
idi minnalaithoothu anuppugiraan
bhoomiyum naanathil sivanthu
vasanthamaga
magizhgiraL
antha naaLai
ethirpathirukkiraL
bhoomiyum vaanamam seruma?

Note: updated it as visitor has transliterated in tamil in the comment section.

A Magical Weekend

2007-07-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

I did manage to attend the midnight mela at a books-a-million store to pick up my pre-ordered HP finale. I managed to read around 35 pages right away (I wish I had taken my book light with me). Most of the weekend was spent with Harry and was it wonderful!

The book didn't disappoint me. Almost! Some of my guesses turned out alright. JKR managed to tie up a lot of loose ends. Considering it was no trifling task, she did a wonderful job. This was the only way it could have ended. I will have to read it again soon to absorb it completely. One thing though, the series started out as a children's tale, but this last one is definitely PG-13, to say the least. Some of the expletives used are not appropriate for the young 'uns.

SPOILER ALERT: Don't read further if you haven't read the book.

The book gets into the battle quick enough with the airstrike. That polyjuice episode was a stroke of genius. The death that happens is unexpected but not nearly gut-wrenching as others. There is a lot of movement in the story. The pedantic three hunt for the horcruxes and in the course, we learn the stories behind the story. Kreacher's redemption was created nicely. One of my favorite parts in the book. Pettigrew's death, which we all anticipated, lacked a bit of drama. The Malfoys acted true to character to the very end. Neville grows into his character, turning from a scar(r)ed young boy into a confident leader. We never learn anything about Potter's paternal ancestors. Petunia's sour grapes was also something I had guessed. Prof Trelawney's little part in the battle was great. The battle was well choregraphed and it was gripping.

The real hero, of course, was Snape, as I had guessed and hoped. But got to say, that the end didn't fit the hero. Ultimately, those who loved, triumphed. Dumbledore's shades of grey, was surprising, but explained a lot.

If there was one thing that was disappointing in the book, it was the epilogue. There is nothing about what they end up doing after such an exciting teenage life. I would have liked to know more about Luna, the rest of the Weasleys, and the house-elves. Prof McG didn't show up much. Did she become the head of Hogwarts?

Was the crying baby voldemort?

Wasn't there someone who would do magic late in life?

I am hoping that in subsequent interviews and FAQs she will answer the few remaining questions.

aavi amudha's mystery revealed

2007-07-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

For a few days, I had been noticing that peeps have been led to my blog when searching for 'aavi amudha'. I was wondering what the heck it was. Then I found this old treasure. Pliss to note the comments section there.

Harry Potter and The Wait for the Last One

2007-07-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

Another day and night from now, I could be reading it. The spoilsports are out with the spoilers, but in a nation that can selectively close eyes and ears to the outside world, I am not going to find it difficult to hide from them.

But once I start it, I know I will not put it down until I finish it. And then what? There is this emptiness I have to look forward to. Can I survive in a muggle world for the rest of my life?

I don't think any other book, movie or sitcom has affected me in quite this way. It probably applies to thousands of other folks waiting for the stroke of midnight. I remember eagerly waiting for fauji's next episode or the weekly magazine for the next part in a story, but nothing was close to this. I have heard of people waiting for Sherlock Holmes or Les Miserables. But we are living through this one. It is a kind of temporary monomania. Borderline OCD. Imagine a decade or two later, we can tell people we lived through this phenomenon. The anticipation for the next book is something only we will feel. The future generations will read them like we do Tolkien. All at one time. Where is the fun in that!

I haven't yet decided whether I will do the midnight queue or the early morning one. If I am back from the party early, it is going to be morning. If the party turns wild till 11ish, I might as well get the book on the way back. My kids will have to fend for themselves this weekend.

This is it. The grand finale. Denouement. Will it be, is the question? Will she tie all the knots? Or would we need a glossary or an appendix kind of book to answer unanswered questions?

Once I finish the book, I am going to go back read everything once more. Carefully. To make sure it all ties together. She is good at that. Connecting point A in book 1 to point B in book 3 or point C in book 5.

Can you tell I am excited?

I saw it, I did, I did! (aka kanden kanden)

2007-07-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted to catch it the first day, but for some reason didn't think of advance purchase. Hubby went to get the tickets and they were sold out, so he bought them for the next day - yesterday's evening show. We were in the hall 40 minutes before the show since someone had warned us the first day was crowded and good seats were hard to find. My older girl counted 9 people in the hall. But the hall did fill up eventually. So anyways, we waited it out and got to see one of the most awaited movies of the year - HP and OP. Was it good!

I have to say this. Considering the length of the book, the movie was a decent adaptation. There were some places that I felt could have been done better. One especially was Harry's hearing at the ministry. The book's version was more tension-filled and had more drama.

I really wanted to see the puddle that the weasley twins left, but they didn't show it. The final confrontation was very well done. The toad's character missed a few 'ahems'. Am I the only one who finds Emma W. lacking in the histrionics department? There was so much depth to the characters in the book, which was, not surprisingly, lacking in the movie.

But the special effects were worth it! Grawp was done well, as were the thestrals, although the kids' fear of the unseen should have been seen by us. There was a bit of license taken since Chang's friend didn't figure in the movie. The one who rats - can't remember her name. 12, Grimmault Place was not alive as depicted in the book. A little disappointing there.

It was more like a gist of the book. If you want the real deal, you have to read it! (And the rest of the real deal is a week away, yay!) See it for the visual effects and because it is a phenomenon not to be missed.

Beam me up, scotty!

2007-07-12T07:28:00.001-07:00

Not so easy! supposedly the third most traumatic event(after death and divorce)!
I am a middling pack rat, but hubby beats me hands down. Nothing is disposed, even t-shirts belonging to the last decade. I have to resort to underhanded techniques. Once they are bagged, they are irretrievable. Although he seems to have this antenna about such things. One throw-away is replaced by 5 newbies. We don't realize how much we end up collecting over 10 years. So most of my time nowadays is spent in load reduction.

Then there is the 4-year old who loves digging into packed boxes and scattering them around the house. Almost funny, but not!

The emotional quotient has not hit me yet. 9 years in 1 house, laying down roots, making friends, learning to feel at home, learning to start afresh, traumatic yes, but I am not feeling anything yet. I hope it doesn't hit me all at once. Sometimes I think that my feeling got numbed down from past events. Or may be I am too busy to stop and smell the roses. Which could be a good thing in this instance.

Exciting nontheless!

2007-07-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

There is now an association for this? It is called the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers. Hmmm!

The bond, a mute, a rat, mumbai and intrigue

2007-07-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

Finally caught up with some good movies.

Daniel Craig, contrary to my reservations, was a good bond. Not Sean Connery good, but close. Considering how unbondish he was.

I go with the majority and aver that mozhi is one great movie to watch. Prakash Raj seemed to shine stronger than the rest. And that prof ("athimber") did good too. RadhaMohan has this knack of treating simple stories with elan.

Watched Ratatouille yesterday at the movies. It was an okay movie, animation was great.

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom was a good idea that went wrong at execution. Aby Jr does a great job of a Southall punju, (apparently that is very real life acc. to someone familiar with that place). Lara Dutta cussing away to glory, was impressive. Didn't realize she had it in her. Preity Z was the only one that I found not endearing. Even Bobby D (Shudder) has done a good job as Sateeve. Liked the humor, although the Sutradhar didn't seem to really thread them that well. That j-b-j song sticks to your brain like a leech, it is good though.

Read Baldacci's Simple Genius. A lot of "human treatment" for a thriller, made it better. It is in his usual turf, which he writes best. Political controversies or policies, as he puts it, mixed with murders, spies and codes makes an interesting read.

Sometime back, got a chance to read Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games when it was featured on my library's quick pick list. This was my first V.C. novel and I am very much impressed with this book. It reads like a underworld movie (a la Company), and for a few days, there was a weird hangover from the book. I kept remembering all the cuss words used in that book. Quite liberally used by Gaitonde and crew. Inspector Sartaj was one of my favorite characters. Highly recommended. I have put down V.C. as one of my favorite writers and will catch up with his earlier works soon. He seems to be one tech-savvy guy, read somewhere that he uses an elaborate project management software to keep his characters and threads in the right perspective.

Right after finishing that one, read the Sepia Mutiny sponsored Maximum City by Suketu Mehta. It was a well researched book, but the writing style was not as impressive. It seemed to not flow that well, jumping all over mumbai.

Now all I have to do is wait for THE movie and THE book (HP).

All this, while trying to pack up and move to a colder zone. Not fun, I tell you!

Me times 8

2007-06-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

Rads has tagged me to do a self-exploratory blog. Just a few days back, I heard someone say that your one true love is yourself. In a way, that is right. How well you know yourself makes relationships easier.

Here are the rules:

1. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

Random fact 1: I am a sloth. Truly. All I want is to sit in my papasan with a good book and a hot tea, unless I am catching a few winks.

Random fact 2: I love to dance. My friends tease me about it. But I can dance all day long and the night too, if there is good music to be heard. Starting from Bharatham to jazz, I love to do 'em all. By extension, I love to choreograph, although I hate to teach :-) One of my pseudo fantasies, is to teach dancercise classes based on these various styles all mixed up. It would be called the avial workout.

Random fact 3: I have a short-temper. Quick to anger, I have trouble hiding it. Although, I must say, I am getting better at it. Slightly.

Random fact 4: I love to bake and eat them too. I have the mother of all sweet teeth and indulge quite frequently.

Random fact 5: A typical scorpio - loyal to a fault and no slight is small to be forgotten.

Random fact 6: I have a constant tug of war with the pounds. Me, my running, yoga and dance vs the junk food and the achy ligaments on the other. I win every few months or so. Refer Random fact 1.

Random fact 7: Short attention span. I thrive on change. Easily bored except when I am dancing or reading.

Random fact 8: Books, books and books. Have to read at least a page a day. Love 'em.

I am breaking rule 3. Anyone who wants to take this trip inwards is tagged.

another year goes by and the distance widens...

2007-06-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

All I can remember now is his concern and caring. Teaching me chess, playing with me, cutting my nails, untangling my thick and impossible hair. Visual flashes that last lesser than a second. There were also times when his hand imprinted on my shoulder or cheek, trying to control my runaway tongue. Once when my friends and I played "house", I was the dad and pretended to smoke a rolled up paper. Then I decided to make it more real, and took a cigarette from his pack and placed it in my mouth and felt a sting on my cheek. I couldn't understand why it was so wrong for me to do it when he did it. I guess he must have felt a bit guilty.

He would take me on golu rounds, visiting friends and family, even though I hated it. I am thankful for that now. He had become the breadwinner at an early age for a large family, taking care of 3 sisters and 3 brothers, in addition to a mentally-not-all-there-mother. He had a strong sense of family, and made sure he passed it on to me. Taking me on all those trips to visit relatives I barely knew or didn't want to know. The time when I had an infection on my foot and couldn't walk, taking me to school, all the way to the porch.

Teaching me to bike, running behind me even though he was not very fit. Feeling proud when I negotiated some minor traffic. Following me on my first bike ride to school, giving me that freedom and at the same time making sure I got there safe.

Reading those Amar chitra katha comics, opening up the world of PGW for me. Teaching me to enjoy books. Letting me help when he cooked. Helping me with hindi, learning french because I did. He loved learning new languages - he could easily converse in tamil, english, hindi, bengali and telugu. I think he knew Malayalam too, I vaguely remember him talking to some mallu friends.

It couldn't last though. I watched him literally lose heart in the last year of his life, even though he tried to not let it affect me. Mourning his dead son, even though he hid it from me. That last argument we had, even though I ended up listening to him, but he didn't know that. I wish I could apologize. I have done it so many times in my dreams. But he is not coming back, going further and further away from me. There is pain, but not the gut-wrenching, throat-closing variety any more.

He was not perfect, but that was what made him what he was. My dad.

super girl

2007-06-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here is one more reason to watch Heroes, one of my favorite shows on TV. News found on this is bollywood

Bollywood actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai has signed up to star in top US sci-fi serial Heroes.

The Indian babe, who recently married fellow actor Abhishek Bachchan, will appear in 8 episodes of the coming series of the NBC show revolving around a batch of super-enhanced human beings.

It has been reported that Aishwarya Rai will play the role of Dr. Mohinder Suresh’s elder sister Shanti Suresh, and will have a super-power of her own, something which has not yet been disclosed.

Aishwarya will begin shooting in Los Angeles later this month, and is expected to be seen on-screen as early as October of this year.

Happy B'day to a living legend!

2007-06-04T07:36:00.000-07:00

One of his latest hits

He still has that golden voice that weaves a magic spell. I had the good fortune of watching one of his shows. Man, is he amazing!

Summer Silver (Sequel) Screen

2007-05-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

Couldn't pass on that alliteration! :-)

This summer promises a spectacular array of movies to watch out for, with Harry P's next adventure on the top of my list followed by Shrek 3 and Pirates. I have already planned a girls' night out to ~~ogle drool over~~ watch Clooney and gang in ocean's 13. There is Fantastic four and die hard coming back. Penguins apparently still make interesting subjects - Surf's up is sure to appeal to kids, although I am not sure if it is a sequel. Then there is the Almighty sequel, Evan Almighty. It is surely a good time for faith based movies.

Browsing through yahoo movies, I came across an interesting one Nancy Drew. Yes the same teenage detective we all idolized. Well, at least I did. I am excited about it, but at the same time, I don't want it to spoil my time warp. If you know what I mean. I cannot imagine a modern, hip/cool, teenage Nancy Drew, as seen in clueless or Princess diaries.

I read somewhere that TinTin was tagged for the near future. That would be good! I think!

Tips for Handling Telemarketers

2007-05-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Usually when I get forwards, I either read them or toss them, but rarely forward them. This one was too good and pretty close to home, so thought of posting it here.

Three Little Words That Work !!

(1)The three little words are: "Hold On, Please..."

Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off (instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's "beep-beep-beep" tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a "real" sales person to call back and get someone at home.

What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible This confuses the machine that dialed the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer !!!

(3) Junk Mail Help:
When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these "ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 39 cents postage "IF" and when they receive them back.

It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes.

One of Andy Rooney's (60 minutes) ideas.
Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!
If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 39 cents.

The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again You get the idea !

If enough people follow these tips, it will work ---- I have been doing this for years, and I get very little junk mail anymore.

What's the good word?

2007-05-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

I vaguely remember this show on doordarshan. I can't recollect anything much about it though. But words have always fascinated me. Reader's digest was one of my favorites in school days, mainly for that section.

Looking for something, I came across this website - http://www.word-detective.com. Interesting site!

Then there is http://www.wordorigins.org/ that is similar, with interesting anecdotes about word origins.

The mother lode seems to be here, although not spiced up like the other two.

While you are at it, check out this one, about words that originated in India.

A fun game too!

Funny Woman

2007-04-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

I rarely watch Anbudan on suntv. Yesterday was one such time and I thoroughly enjoyed Urvashi's banter. She is such a fun and lively person. It felt like I was with my friends.

I remember seeing her at the airport on one of my trips, she had lost a lot of weight then. I now wish I had gone up to her and started a conversation. It would have been really interesting, not because she is an actress, but because she is such an animated talker.

People like her make watching interviews very interesting.

overboard

2007-04-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Ivangalukke ithu konjam overa theriyala?

no.1 no.1

2007-04-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday, a rare vetti afternoon, I was watching the inthiya thollaikatchiyil 13456avathu muraiyaga movie. My little one was watching parts of it with me. She loves the ads. She has always loved them - I remember a 4 month old stop nursing to turn towards the metti oli title song.

So she is watching the dinakaran no.1 no.1 ad. It ends with a question to her (i.e, the viewers), ...thamizhil dinakaran no.1, appo neenga? She promptly says no. 4. It took me a second to realize why. She meant her age.

pok-ri

2007-04-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

After Gilli, I enjoyed watching Vijay in Pokkiri. A good masala entertainer. Now what I hear is Shirtless Sallu is planning to do it in Hindi. Last week, I was thinking that Abi Jr or Saif Ali would suit that role. Man, what a waste!

Life specks

2007-03-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

Some time back I was talking to an expectant father and another mother. The mother wanted to go thru childbirth without medications. If her mother and grandmother went through it, so could she. Smacked of Amish mentality to me. When you can have it easy, why would you want to do that! A lot of us are scared of childbirth and some more are scared of medications. I was worried about the epidural causing pain or further complications, but decided that there was no way I wanted to go through it the unmedicated way. That is of course my opinion.

It is awful how these people are waiting to see Mills' leg fly!

Planning a trip is sometimes more enjoyable than the actual trip.

It is hard to believe that something that is so beautiful could be harmful too. Spring is here with pretty cherry blossoms, bradford pears and the rest of the colorful panorama. And so is the bout of allergies!

Warning: never approach a young kid practising her golf swing. And keep the other kids a few miles away!

Godavari was a great movie, albeit with subtitles! Manasa vacha is my current favorite song.

Caught a few episodes of kaapi with Anu. She is a good host and I loved the Maddy episode.

Got to wait until end of April for my next dose of Heroes. I was getting addicted. But who has heard of a tamil named Mohinder?

Chivalry

2007-03-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

Reading Witchu's post reminded me of something that happened in my childhood. I had just started my 4th std, probably around 8 years or so. I had to travel by Pallavan to school and we had only one bus that took me to school on time. The next bus was at least 30 minutes later and I would be seriously late if I took that one.

The walk from home to the bus stop was around 10 -15 minutes. On that day, I had almost reached the stop when the bus started pulling out. I ran towards it, tears in my eyes, but it gathered speed. One of the footboard guys (collegiate), took pity on me, got down and gathered me and carried me to the bus and deposited me in to the departing vehicle. It was a small gesture and he probably has forgotten about it, but I was very grateful to him. How many of us would think of doing the same?

If not for that gesture, I would have equated Pallavan to pawing men!

Uncanny and "unfunny"

2007-03-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

Ever been hit by a wayward stone while driving on the interstate? While driving to work yesterday morning, a stone pellet from nowhere hit the front windshield and drilled a tiny whole. Nothing special about that. What is uncanny is that, a few years back, it happened to me the same way. Same spot on the windshield, same location on the interstate and a similar hole drilled in my windshield. It was a good thing that stone was small. But then, if it were any bigger, it wouldn't have flown out at me. Wonder what poltergeist resides in that vicinity!

Today's gym workout ended with a big bang. Literally. Well, at least a big thud. I am sure I will laugh when I think about it in a few days time, but right now, my tail bone has been highly traumatized. I have been doing the fit ball abs for quite sometime now and I don't put much thought into it. My earphone came loose and while plugging it back, the ball slipped from under me. I am not even sure what happened. One minute I was on top, the next I am on the floor, blanked out for a couple of seconds. patta edathuliye padumnu sonnathu seriya pochu. The current count is 5.

Not so funny right now, although my friend laughed in my face when I told her. I will excuse her, since she always looks at the bright side of things.

Baa Baa brown sheep

2007-02-15T06:40:00.000-08:00

Back in grad school, I used to ride my bicycle to school most days, and my husband (then fiance)would pick me up somedays. That day was our international festival. I parked my bike, chained and locked it and went and had my share of the fun. Came out later in the evening, hunted for my bicycle and couldn't find it. We searched everywhere and finally concluded that it had been stolen. My husband went to the university police station to file a complaint.

Towards lunch time, a few circuits connected and the bulb flashed in my head. I told my husband where I had actually left the bike. Sure enough, there it was, untouched and lonely. So he trudged up to the coppers to get the complaint back. Back to me sitting with the sheepish grin! A definite start to the duh moments of my life!

History definitely repeats itself! During my trip to India, my mother in law gave me some important documents and also an important letter to be mailed to her friend's daughter. The trip passed in a flurry of activities. I got back home, woke up (very) early the next morning and unpacked all my bags. Searched for the documents and couldn't find it. My husband also searched all the bags, couldn't find it and sent them up to the attic. For the next 2 weeks, I had to listen to mother and son fret over my forgetfulness. I called up my mom to search for the documents at home. She turned the whole house upside down and reported that she couldn't locate them.

2 weeks later after the jet lag fluff had cleared up from my brain, I went up to the attic and opened the bag's suit compartment. This is the compartment that is kind of the upper berth in the bag, but below the side panels. Both of us had failed to search that. There they were, exactly where I had put it, to make sure I didn't forget them and also to keep them from getting smushed up.

Duh moments continue!

Happy Valentine's day

2007-02-14T06:13:00.000-08:00

Govinda sort of spoiled it for me, by saying everyday is a valentine's day for him in his own corny, cheesy style. But still, I won't say no to a bunch of beautiful red roses now and then.

Having being fed on romance, both in movies and books, it is a day for remembering the best romances I have come across.

Tamil movies:
Mouna Ragam: I have seen this movie umpteen times and still love it. Revathy in one of her best roles, as was Karthik, with his "Chandramouli". To me, the best that Manirathnam gave us.

RajaParvai: The romance of a blind man, although borrowed its climax from Dustin Hoffman's, was a beautiful movie.

Alaipayuthey: This was about the happily ever after part, and of course, there was Maddy.

Missiyamma: A nice and soft romantic tale.

Then nilavu: Great songs, that we enjoy even to this day.

English movies:
Pretty Woman, My girl, An affair to remember, French Kiss, Sleepless in Seattle, Ghost, When Harry met Sally, Roman Holiday

Books:
Gone with the wind: Scarlet O'Hara is a household name. That was probably the longest book I read at one go. What I liked best about her was her indefatigable attitude.

Pride and Prejudice: Elizabeth and Darcy's romance that still fascinates us after all these years. In fact, I love most of Jane Austen's books

Jane Eyre: This was a book in school and we got the opportunity to thoroughly enjoy the book and it remains one of my faves.

Georgette Heyer: I can't really whittle down to one single favorite.

Then there are the regular authors I read, Nora Roberts, Catherine Coulter, Kay Hooper, Susan Elizabeth Phillips who can churn some good romance.

A day to curl up and read/watch a good romance.

Back to your mathematical roots

2007-02-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, someone posed this problem to me and wanted my help in solving it. It didn't take me too long to figure it all out. It was fun solving and reminded me how much I love solving such problems.

Here is the problem:

There are 400 students in a school. 180 take Spanish, 160 take Chinese and 160 take Latin. 60 take Spanish and Latin, 70 take Latin and Chinese and 60 take Chinese and Spanish. 50 take none. How many take all three?

Murphy's law goes wireless?

2007-02-09T09:58:00.000-08:00

Why is it that the cell phone always rings when you step out of your office? To the point where coworkers start complaining? And when you try to call back, you always miss the other person.
Is this a mobile murphy law or something?

Cauvery's son

2007-02-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Two years back, during my trip to Chennai, LandMark didn't have the 1st volume of Ponniyin Selvan's English Translation. So I had 2 choices. Wait for the book to be back in circ. or try to read the tamil one. As a self-taught-tamil-reader, reading the old style tamil doesn't come easy. And when you cannot read well, the beauty of the novel is lost. So I decided to wait. Note that the option of reading the online translation did not appeal to me.

So on the last trip, I found book 1 and promptly started reading it. I am being redundant many times over, by saying it is a wonderful masterpiece. I am in the throes of it now, but afraid to hurry, coz I don't want it to end quickly. I have read Parthiban kanavu and half of Sivakamiyin sabatham at Pavithra's blog. I am still waiting to read the rest of it. I came across the tamil ones at the museum book store (good place for book lovers). I didn't it buy it though, knowing I won't be able to do it. So that is another wait for me.

The translation has been well done and most of the time, I didn't feel like I was reading a translated work. It does take a lot of passion, energy, creativity and time to do it.

It made me wonder what would have happened if Arulmozhi varmar had accepted the throne of Lanka. Less violence now in that part of the world, may be?

Sundry

2007-01-29T06:47:00.000-08:00

Sad news that OP Nayyar, the creator of such gems like Naya Daur and Kashmir ki kali passes on. I should attribute my appreciation of Hindi music mainly to this one great composer. His Asha tunes are unforgettable!

Heard a cousin of mine passed away recently. Such a wasted life!

Ms. Shetty is all over the news, having earned a lot of sympathy votes and emerging the winner.

How is younger bro Karthi going to fare?

A cold with a never say die attitude! It seems to attack during the weekends!

I am being blocked from some comments. Oh Well!

Cow Car!

2007-01-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

My young one was understandably excited when she saw her first one!

bollywood, what a hoot!

2006-12-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

Even if I had not read the reviews, as soon as I saw Hrithik Roshan land oh-so-accurately on top of the moving train, I would have guessed the tone of the movie. Modern day Fantasy! Hrithik did good though, especially when he was dressed as the old guy. AB Jr, comes flying from underwater, don't ask how he managed to keep the scooter underwater for that long, or even how he was breathin under water. I like him, but he needs some serious toning, at least to correct his posture. His dances would look better, if only he had a better posture. Uday Chopra, was too cheesy, to say the least. And enough said! The second Bips looks good, awesome toning, and that is the extent of her role. Aish, thinner and still beautiful, falls flat on her face in that first confrontation with A. She can't talk sultry, wrong role. All in all, it felt like a well packaged vignette of what Bollywood was and has become. Movie is a hoot, keep your thinking cells at home and just enjoy the visuals!

The trailers were interesting. Babul, a regular mush masala, Kabul express sounds good with 2 of my favorites (Arshad 'circuit' warsi and John Abraham) acting in it and Salaam-e-ishq promises to be exciting, except for the Shirtless Khan factor. Bhagam baag, Priyadarshan with another of his remakes, this time with Govinda featuring with the other regulars, promises to be a fun watch. Can't remember the original mallu movie, though!

Came across this article about suave Clooney wanting to dance around the tress lip-syncing to Hindi lyrics. I think I will like that! Now imagine Garfield with his big grin waiting for his pizza!

really random

2006-11-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

The review (rediff) for the new bond movie says it is good. So is it James Bond or James Blond? Or James Bland?

Talking about bland, costco has a new cal style veggie burger out (Dr.Praegger's I think) that is pretty good, unlike the usual suspects. I just add a healthy dose of chaat masala and a healthier dose of red hot chutney or sambal olek to appeal to my taste buds.

SJS and Meera J? Who would have thunk?

George Clooney is back at no.1 acc. to people mag. No surprise there. Just give him a permanent post I say!

Emmitt won. Not really surprised, he seems such a likeable guy! Mario is a great dancer and so was Joey L. Will that erase that saved by the bell scar off his forehead?
I have started hearing carols everywhere. Seems a bit early to me. Is it that time already?

Ants are having a freaking fun season chez moi! Baited breath gets a whole new meaning!

Now when people start talking about sahana and durbar, I actually (sort of) know what they are talking about (an inkling, really). I think.

One more day, by 5 people .. in heaven's author, is one more good read.

For once, I haven't started shopping for the big trip. Yet. Do they still sell those handcuffs or whatchamaycallits for kids? I see it as the only solution.

Next post will be at random.

poll - voting

2006-11-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

Under a sage friend's advice, walked up to the poll booth at 6:48AM, and finished my civic duty by 7:05 AM. Was 6th in line and one of the first to come out, since all I did was a straight party vote. That would have been called a breeze, except it was a yucky mucky morning. It still is. Coming out from that place, there was 1 thought uppermost - Hope is what makes the world go around!

Then on to the dental drill for a tiny filling. Why does a "simple filling" take so much effort and pain!

verbosa ponderosa

2006-11-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

Political leanings aside, what makes one buy a humv? I was behind one this morn, and gosh, is it ugly! I am sure someone behind me was thinking similar thoughts about my LS400.

Why can't fall colors last the whole of fall? All that magnificence is ephemeral, barely 2 weeks of brilliance and it has already started to die out.
Isn't there something about the bright colors combined with cumulonimbus (courtesy, my daughter) clouds above?

Did I really hear that loud pop early this morning? I was rudely (but luckily) woken up at around 5 by a loud bang. Was it a real noise, a dream or my internal alarm?

You would think that the daylight saving hour would help us get up earlier. But seems to have worked the other way in my household! I think I have finally lost that jetlag! Will have to soon get ready for the real one though!

Last, but the most important, do we have to grow up?

Child labor law

2006-10-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

So, Indian govt. finally came around to ban child labor. High time, for sure.

What good does it do, though? So those few kids who could manage to feed themselves will be out on the streets, as the concept of foster care or social services is almost non-existent. A well-meant action falls flat if it is not practical.

How many people are going to heed the law? In a nation where monogamy is the law, but widely ignored, where most politicians are corrupt and where red tapes are millions of miles long, how is this going to change the state of things?

I might seem quite cynical, but without providing some means of support to these kids, there is no point in removing whatever self-support they might have.

Book reco - Arthurian legend

2006-10-09T06:21:00.000-07:00

My friend recommended these books to me sometime back. They are about Merlin the magician. They are supposedly some of the best on the topic. I have to agree. The first one, Crystal Cave, is about Merlin's younger years and his growth to become the high king's prophet. The second one, Hollow Hills, is about his helping Arthur to be crowned the high king. Fascinating reading, to say the least. I have yet to read the third in this trilogy, The Last Enchantment, as soon as I can lay my hands on it.

Her tales are very descriptive, and in this trilogy, it helps in bringing these stories to life for the reader. Anyone interested in magic tales, fantasy or just well written fiction, would enjoy this book.

recycling gifts

2006-10-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

I came across this article today, about re-gifting.

Sometimes we end up getting duplicate gifts or end up with gifts that are not suited to us at all. I don't see anything wrong in recycling them. The survey says about 78% of pollers have done it.

And then there are the gag gifts which do the rounds, because their usefulness ends right there.

Now, what are the chances you get the same gift that you gave away? Would the same concept as 7 degrees of separation work here?

LRMB

2006-10-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

It was a pleasure to watch Munna Bhai and Circuit go at it again. I think sending this movie to the oscars is fully justified. The message conveyed is definitely the need of the day. This is of course too much idealism, impractical for today's world. But, may be this saturation will help a little bit at least.

Arshad Warsi's comic timing is great, as witnessed in some of his recent movies too. To me, he was the best thing in the movie. If I can enjoy a movie inspite of a dopey faced hero, it is all because of this sidekick.

Vidya Balan is beautiful and acts well too. Her "Goodmo...rning Mumbai" has become a rage at home, with my kids trying it out at the top of their voices, every chance they get.

Another important part of the movie is Boman Irani. What an actor! He gets better with every movie, if that's possible.

The songs were enjoyable too. I liked the way they had treated vandemataram.

And no half-baked characters here!

I have always had a soft spot for clean comedies in Hindi, this one is no exception, although I did feel that it was a tad more serious than MB1. Who knows, decades from now, this movie might be as popular as Hrishi da's movies are today!

Gandhigiri zindabad!

Ghajini aunty

2006-09-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

A few years back, I met this lady at a party, her husband works with mine. She asked my name and talked to me for some time. Some time later, at another party, she says, "I don't think I have met you before". I didn't think much of it and re-introduced myself. But this repeated everytime I saw her. And she would always, always, walk up to me and say the same thing, ask my name and details. We were invited to her son's wedding reception, and yes, she asked me again. She apologized that her memory was not all that great. Tell me about it! :-)

The weird thing, the conversation was always the same. Asked my name, who was my husband and about my kids, and then, you don't look old enough to have kids, blah blah blah. A sense of deja vu, without really, in her case.

I later, found out that she had this medical condition that made her forget recent events. She remembers other things, older stuff, but not much in her recent past. I wonder how terrible that would be. Then again, may be not.

I met her again a few weeks back and the routine repeated. Since I was more aware of her condition, I indulged her, but didn't engage in a lengthy conversation this time. What's the point?

At the rate that I am losing my memory, I wonder how long will I take to get to her stage.

The dancer moves on

2006-09-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

I have long admired Padmini's grace as a dancer. Madurai veeran (Nadagam ellam kanden) still stays fresh in my mind. Marainthirunthu paarkum was one of her best. She recently moved to Chennai, only to move on to better things. It is sad when such a bundle of talent passes away.

pilimpare awards

2006-09-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Missed the beginning half of the show yesterday. But caught last year's comedy man getting his pillim pare award.

Kamal's little girl, Akshara is so beautiful.

Lizzy on screen after a looong time, still looks the same. mostly.

Vikram talked quite a bit. That guy likes to hear his own voice, eh!

Thanga mudiyallai - Namitha's tharuviya tharamattiya, Cheran's new hairstyle.

puriya villai - What was with some of these dancing actresses wearing a long kovanam over their pants?

The kannada actor's (Prem?) tamil, kadichu thuppinaalum, paravayillai, kekka nalla irunthichi. At the other end, Trisha and Asin were pretty, but didn't speak much in the local lingo.

Chimp without moush!

Was there a tremor in Rekha's voice? Still gorgeous though.

Shreya can dance.

Discovered

2006-09-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

(Source: Yahoo)

This one has been brought out of hiding! How many more are out there?

Rajini thaatha?

2006-09-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

Going thru some spectacular shots of the big wedding on behindwoods.com, came across one that piqued my curiosity.

Is it true?

Remembering them

2006-09-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

As a kid, I was heavily influenced by Mrs. Alamelu. She was a strong woman, who inculcated a lot of values and beliefs in me. Her lessons were very interesting, though she mainly taught Hindi, I have had her for Science lessons too, but the best ones were those where she digressed to examples in Hindu mythology or other such. She could sing beautifully, could yell at us if we misbehaved or say a kind word when needed and always motivated her students. She took care of cultural activities too and was a lady of multiple talents. When she decided to move to her village, we felt a keen sense of loss and even though she visited the school once more, we lost her then. A few years later, there was a rumor that she passed away. I hope that was indeed a rumor and she is still spreading sunshine around her.

Mr. A was one of my favorites. He taught French and English and for some reason we had a strong rapport. I kept in touch with him for some time after school years and I do hope to meet him again soon.

Mrs. L was such a sweet lady. Never a harsh word, the strongest reprimand we got was a gentle word to act properly. I owe her my love for English classics, whatever little I have. One more person, I have lost under the wheels of time.

There were the funny ones who (unintentionally) made us enjoy their lectures, the every-angry ones who turned their disappointments on their students and the shy ones who kept to themselves pretty much. Some who inspired and motivated, as they were meant to do.

Today is their day and I salute them.

Book(s) watch

2006-08-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

As usual, there are a bunch of books I need to catch up on. Kite Runner is languishing on my nightstand while I try to finish Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson. She is one of my lately discovered writers. Read her which witch? recently. I had bought it for my daughter, but haven't ever heard about it or her, wanted to read it first to see if it was appropriate. Loved it. What's more, I see that she is a contemporary of JKR and shares quite a bit with her (Read here).
Another favorite, Mitch Albom is also out with his latest, for one more day. I have loved his other 2 books and so looking forward to this one too.

Then there is Elizabeth Aston who writes books based on the Darcy's (Jane Austen). Her latest is out, The True Darcy Spirit: A Novel.

Then the master thriller spinner, Baldacci is out (soon to be, rather) with The Collectors, part of the camel club series. A few from my favorite, Nora Roberts, to catch up to.

And then, I feel a distance from Harry Potter that needs to be closed, so got to re-re-read 1/2 blood.

between dance classes, music lessons and soccer practices, I got to squeeze in some soul time.

So little time, so much to do!

Maggie cuts her hair

2006-08-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has read "Mill on the Floss" would know what I am refering to.

Tom followed Maggie upstairs into her mother's room, and saw her go at once to a drawer, from which she took out a large pair of scissors.

"What are they for, Maggie?" said Tom, feeling his curiosity awakened.

Maggie answered by seizing her front locks and cutting them straight across the middle of her forehead.

One delicious grinding snip, and then another and another, and the hinder-locks fell heavily on the floor, and Maggie stood cropped in a jagged, uneven
manner

My youngest one has lost her bangs! What can I say!

Ramayana as a history lesson?

2006-07-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

Came across this article - NASA Images Find 1,750,000 Year Old Man-Made Bridge.

To believe or not to believe?

There are those who find similarities between the dasavatharam and Darwin's origin of species.