Variety is the spice of life

The fact, that Junior had taken to rhymes in a big way, dawned on me close to midnight, when he was chanting “Johnny Johnny yes papa” in his sleep. I was so surprised that he had picked up his first rhyme I woke up wifey immediately so that she doesn’t miss out on that momentous occasion. She looked at me with eyes full of sleep and anger and said that he has been singing that rhyme for almost a week and went back to sleep!!! Nevertheless it was exciting that he had picked his first rhyme and I was so happy. Nowadays, it is his signature call for addressing anyone and everyone. One day when I was reading something he came to me and called “Appa Appa” “Ennapa” “uhumm..Yes Johnny sollu” “er…yes Johnny?” “reading paper?” “yes” “uhumm..Yes johnny sollu” “Yes Johnny” (I got the drift only now) “telling lies” “no johnny” “Open your mouth” I actually did open my mouth and got corrected again that I should say “ha ha ha” instead (apparently the drift drifted over) The other favor...

If anyone can read the title correctly at first go, well, you do know your way around tanglish for sure. When the Aandal controversy, kindled by the pompous and arrogant ass of the movie song lyricist Vairamuthu, was at its peak, probably that was the trigger point for this series or maybe it was initially on the pipeline and its release was a mere co-incidence, I would never know. But this story about Aandal starting from the time of her birth and events preceding it has been progressing beautifully in the tamil weekly magazine Kumudham. Every week, I eagerly watch out for this particular piece, written by Priya Kalyanaraman, on that magazine. I’ve been a big time fan of this author for his previous work about temples and stories associated with them. Not sure if it had come out in book format, but it would serve as a fantastic guide to know about south Indian, especially Temples of TamilNadu, for any casual tourist, or those on pilgrimage, as it tells the story of origin for each of ...

By now the verdict on the movie is already out and what would be spoilers in this post are common knowledge. Still, for the benefit of those who are yet to watch the movie, watch out for spoilers, which I would rather want to call as highlighters for the reason why the movie is disappointing. Oops. For those who have seen Kabali – the previous venture between Ranjith and Rajini, The first half of the Kaala would feel like scenes that are Kabali discards. The story simply refuses to take off and keeps roaming on the runway. Even from the few cuts in trailer, it was very clear that this is going to be a fight between Dharavi Rajini against political bigwig Nana Patekar over the land where the chawl is setup. With the basic premise set clearly on the two minute trailer itself, the movie takes almost a whole hour to reach to that confrontation point. Ranjith, to give him the benefit of doubt, is just 5 movies old and 2 of them are with Rajini. For a commercial star of Rajini’s caliber, i...

As the title states, this is a major milestone post in this space – having completed 1000 blog posts. What started as a whim, 12 and a half years back, when many of my peers where posting things left right and center, had outlived most of them, shows much about my producti”vetti”. Many a times in between, I had thought, this would be the end of this blog space. It has overcome restrictions in the form of proxy servers, mind blocks, lack of time and simply being lazy most of the times. All through, one person who has stood by through thick and thin and has commented on almost every single post of mine, ever since he started visiting this space. He is truly “aayirathil oruvar” and deserves special mention. I make it a point to mention him on every milestone post, to not just put “maska” for getting comments (aaiaioa unmaiya sollitene) but also as the only way to express my gratitude. He is like Sadayappa vallal to Kambar for me. When Kambar was writing his Ramayanam, he made it a point...

It was junior’s first day at play school. ( Play school - An oxymoron of an institution, made necessary by our current life style. They claim to teach the kids to have fun and interact. In the age of “made to order” even innocence comes with a price) All the while, during the commute, he was repeating that he is going to school to learn ABCD, thanks to his Paati who had told him that. She was the most vigorous and vociferous opponent to the idea of putting the kid in playschool. But with no kids to play in our apartment and junior crossing the 2.5 age mark, we felt it was the right time to introduce him to the concept of school. The moment he stepped out of the auto, he took both our hands into his tiny ones and started leading us inside the campus. There were already lot other parents and kids who had formed mini groups and while the parents were chatting, the kids were running around on the play area. I was closely watching junior to see his reactions, for he doesn’t like the u...