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That that man..that that pheeling

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Recently Junior came up with a home work given by his class teacher on “one thing that he feels proud of”. The first question junior asked was, isn’t being proud bad? Didn’t’ Ravana and other asuras fell because of their pride? (Mind voicela overa Amar chitra katha vaangi kudutha ipdi than aagumnu thittikittay ) I, as usual, was stumped for an answer and was trying to cook up one on the fly. “Being proud thappu aana what the teacher means here is to share some good things that we do, which makes us happy, that others can also follow”. (shabba…ipdilaam history examla kooda suthi valaichu answer sonnathilla…ipovay kannakattuthay.innum enna kepaano nu while I was wondering, somehow that round about-ish answer settled further questions from him and he went to his mother for legal verification of the response provided by me. Ipdilaam naama padikarachay nammala ketruntha..hmm..as usual blank papera kuduthutu vandhiruka vendi thaan..for I was far too honest to lie and even for lying sake woul...
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Reflections

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Not a day goes by without me missing my dad. With each passing day, I continue to wonder about the kind of childhood and care he gave us and the way he managed to hold the family together financially, at times thinking if it was all even real and possibly a scene out of matrix!! To put things in context, my PG course fees per semester was 9 times his salary at that time and he also had 4 mouths to feed at home alongside other expenses, including educational expenses of my sibling as well!! More than the money or the ability to earn it, I am amazed at the level of confidence he must’ve had in himself and the belief that he can pull it off!! Ditto goes for my mom who was a home maker and as I used to teasingly say then, which sounds emphatic now, that had she been the finance minister of India, we would’ve been a surplus economy several decades back! Somehow, they managed to not just balance out the expenses but also in ensuring what was “must” and be always available. It is not a surviv...
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Of Rasikas and Rasanai

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 I always wondered what would be the exact equivalent for the term "Rasika" in English. Connoisseur sounds more French than common English and kind of sounds too complicated, if not pompous. The tamil word sounds bit closer to heart and feels it is applicable to even laymen. Just like how you don't have to be an expert cook to enjoy a good food, it applies across all disciplines of art where in your ability to enjoy something good need not necessarily means you are completely aware of the nuances of that particular art or an expert to pass on any comment. Enjoyment, though is shown as synonym for "Rasanai" feels more generic. "Taste" was another option that google threw as possible equivalent which i felt was bit closer to what i was looking for. It might sound dumbed down a bit too much but my quest towards finding a good English equivalent for the word Rasanai ended there. I have often marveled at the devotion level explanation given by fans of respe...
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Of Tr(i)ump(h) and disaster

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There is a book by Sidney Sheldon called "Doomsday Conspiracy". It is a funky story that involves a worldwide hunt for a group of tourists who happened to witness a balloon crash, which turns out to be a UFO during investigation. The person who is sent to identify the witnesses stumbles upon one clue after another and unearths the whole list of people only to find them mysteriously dead, moments after he passed on information about them to their superiors. In the end it all turns out to be one global conspiracy of a cabal, who control every major decision on earth, when it comes to mooting money making schemes. Be it bypassing legal ways to promote their business or topple governments to push their agenda, voiding any agreement or treaty that comes in their way of exploiting earth's resources for their monetary gain. The aliens who are concerned about the status of earth, decides to make a visit to save the fate of the planet from the clutches of that evil cabal that stre...
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Invisible Helix by keigo higashino - book review

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Stumbled on this book while searching for "Galileo" web series. Whenever i read these english translated versions, I wish i could read the original Japanese version. Not that the translation is bad in this case. In fact, it feels too correct -  as if, Google translate has been run on every single line with UK accent as the base for translation. Some of the colloquial usages sound odd even if the book was originally written by an English native author. That apart, as compared to some of the other translated works like "the name of the game is kidnapping" where right from the title, it feels amateurish and filled with grammatical errors, Invisible Helix is definitely one of the better translated books of Keigo. Like his every other detective novel, this one is steeply into human relations and the strong family bonding. In fact, across all of the 4 books that i've read, the core plot involve homicide, where the cause of death would be as a result of retaliation for...
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Of Population and politicians

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Sani pradosham is quite famous of all the regular pradoshams in shivan temples. Even during regular times, the number of people who turn up for this happens to be much more than the usual ones that fall on other days of the week. With Social media, whenever there is a random post claiming that particular one happens to be ultra special for some reason best known to Whatsapp university, you can easily make out its impact by the turn outs. The last one i attended, apparently was on such a timing it seems, for the entire stretch around the temple, all the 4 maada streets, where jam packed. Literally you've to walk over vehicles if you had to cross the road for there were hardly any space for pedestrians. And once inside the temple, it was even heavier with literal standing space being luxury. Engenthu thaan ivlo per thideernu varuvaangalo!! Many a times i've loathed in this very space the crowds that turn up at every nook andd corner worth visiting. Any hill station or water body ...
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Black Warrant - drama series

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 Kudos to the curative team of Netflix, who rarely let the audience down when it comes to picking engaging story lines. Very rarely we get to see real life stories or book adaptations based on real life situations or events getting due justice on screen in India. Black Warrant ticks that mark in most aspects. It is a series based on few incidents on Tihar jail. Each of those incidents being landmark in their own and if i am not mistaken, it is adapted from the book written by the then jailor of Tihar. To me the surprise package of the list was "Billa and Ranga" - the title made famous by blockbuster movies starring Rajini. Apparently they both were gruesome killers who had killed a teenage boy and girl mercilessly and had been sentenced to death by hanging. The way the jail authorities go about preparing for hanging and how one of them ends up surviving the first attempt only for the action to be completed by force by the jailer team tells not just the human aspect behind tho...
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