Variety is the spice of life

 Today only watched the movie and wanted to post the review right away illaati saami kutham aaidum. When the trailer of this movie was launched, like several like minded people i had cursed it to the extent possible, especially the way at which the hero proudly proclaims he has 48 arrears!! On top of that he gets to romance two good looking heroine, smoking like no tomorrow and of course the mandatory liquor drinking scenes, all coupled together to form such a cringe opinion about the movie that it was hate at first sight (or view in YouTube terminology). If i keep repeating the same flaws that have become common place across all the movies, i felt like repeating myself and had stopped posting about movies for a while. But after seeing several positive reviews about this one, was really curious to test the extent of rot that had set in the minds of people, that they were praising such a rotten to the core movie. I was happily wrong. In fact, the movie preaches exactly what i wanted...

 Ever since they launched the New Education Policy, the current day scenario was ripening for its own sweet time, with every ambivalent opportunist politician, worth their salt, having a go at the poor masses, confusing them with their crazy concoctions of deceit and lies. With the three-language policy, the current government has opened a literal can of worms across the country with each political nut, turning the other into a zombie, with their crack pot ideologies, across the spectrum. Why should one read more languages? what is the use? why not? what is the harm? you are lying to bring in hindi. you are lying because you already have hindi in your institutions. These seems to be the standard quotes that you get..no..are forced to hear whenever, by mistake, you stumble across any news channel. The harsh reality is way different. If i take junior as example, the way they teach tamil in his school makes me cry in anguish. Despite my best of efforts to influence him into reading ta...

 Ever since i saw "The Intern" i've been smitten by Robert De Niro. Agreed that he had done several magnificent movies prior, but his performance in Intern made not just his character but the entire movie impressive. When i saw his name being mentioned in this drama series, that was the first cue to mark it on the watchlist. The initial few minutes into the series, chaos reign supreme, with America being under attack for yet another time in the web series world, this time with all their cyber systems, from phone to plane, getting hacked simultaneously. With no group claiming responsibility for the attack which lasted just a couple of minutes yet resulted in several train/plane crashes and loss of thousands of lives, entire country is panic stricken, with people on the verge of mass hysteria. If we take a step back and try to imagine the situation, it may not make that much of a sense in a country like India, even though with increased technological dependency we may nearl...

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...

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...

 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...