Variety is the spice of life

Sometime back we got a call from one of our close relatives. Mom took the call and the person on the other side rambled on and on for over an hour. After the call mom was literally dazed and mentally felt very tired. The context of the call was pretty common, considering our present day society. The person who called, has both their sons in America. One is married and has just been blessed with a kid and for the other is fast approaching the expiry date of being an eligible bachlor. The family in India comprises of dad, mom and a bedridden grandma. The immediate parents of the onsite kids wants to stay in US of A till their elder son settles with the newborn and parallely check for brides for the younger one. A noble and quite normal intention nevertheless. But, the ailing granma is the roadblock here, for she can neither travel nor is fit enough to be left in India under anyones care. Her situation has reached a stage where in anyday could be her last. While the son with newborn is

How old are you? Recently this very question, put in a different tone, caused such a ruckus on a flights cockpit that it made headline news on mainstream media. Of all the numbers, age is probably one numeric value which has lot of significance and sensitivity attached. The Malayalam movie by the title "How old are you" marked the return of their version of Jothika, Manju Warrier. Curiously, other than their professional careers which are kind of similar with their hits and misses, their personal life couldnt be any more contradictory. While Manju's marital life is something she would want to forget in a hurry and move ahead in her movie career, its the bedrock in which Jo is resurrecting her career. Other than that both their spouses are reigning superstars, the other similarity could be probably they are of same age maybe. Story is pretty simple. A 30 plus underdog (woman in this case) dons limelight for her innovative terrace farm concept and gets to meet the Ind

I remember during my school days when me and dad used to go and buy tube lights to replace the dying ones. They will have a reddish blackish hue near their tail ends when they are about to breath their last, like climaxla vara cancer patients in movies. It used to be pretty frequent and whenever a tube crosses more than 40-50 days we would be so happy thinking about that brand, which would be either Crompton Greaves or Phillips. Later i came to realize the role of voltage fluctuation and how it affects the durability of the bulbs. Once i read an article about some guy who has invented a tube light that will never exhaust and how foreign MNC's are choking the product from getting released into market, for fear of their own designs going waste. I dont remember when the scenario changed. But in the past few years, i've rarely come across cases when we had to replace our fused bulbs. With CFL and other types coming into play, either the direct usage has come down along with the flu

Click here for previous parts சித்திரை திங்கள் என -மோக நித்திரை விலக பங்குனி வெயில் போல ஞானம் ஒலிரிட - தான் மன்குனி ஆனதை உணர்ந்தான் பெற்ற மாங்கனி  சிசுவினை துறந்தான் - கௌஸிகன் கடமை முடிந்ததும் பலனை பாராது கீதை வழி நடந்தாள் பெற்ற பிள்ளை தனை மறந்தாள் தாய்மைக்கு கருமை பூசி பறந்தாள் மேலோர் நகைக்கு ஆளான மேனகை சகுந்த பறவைகள் சூழ்ந்து அமர்ந்திருக்க கூட்டினுள்ளே ஒரு குட்டி தலை - அவளை விட்டு பெற்றோர் பெற்றனர் விடுதலை காரணம் இந்திரன் என்னும் தறுதலை அவளே சகுந்தலை கணவனை துறக்கும் கட்டம் கொண்டவள் கன்வரின் கண் பட்டாள் ரிஷி மூலம் பிறந்தவளின் ரிஷிமூலம் உணர்ந்த கன்வர் பசி கொண்டு அழுத பிள்ளை துயர் போக்க துணிந்தார் தன் ஆசிரமம் விரைந்தார் மானும் மயிலும் மரமும் துறமும் துணையாய் கொண்டு வளர்ந்தாள் இணையாய் இன்னோர் அழகி உண்டு இனி பிறந்தால் என காண்போர் வியந்திட மலர்ந்தாள் சகுந்தலை

Intha mathiri oru mokka postuku entha mathiri sensationala title vaikarathunu yosichathin vilaivu is what you are seeing at the top. Have been long planning to write on this topic and our lunch time conversation yesterday, reignited it or rather reminded, epdi venumnaalum vachukalam. Lunchmate: "gils..you come from other end of the world right..your bus must surely be stopping at Karappakam?" Me:"car pakkam bike pakkam ellathu pakkamum nikkum..what do you want?" LM: "my cousin has joined a kambeni en route.since she would also be commuting in the same route as you, wanted to check if the bus will stop near her office" Me: "kandipaaga nikkum..its not run by MTC rather TTDC. Chennai chutrula paaka aasapatta they can surely board this one. what is her tech? reminds of one Vikatan joke. What is the common question asked between two programmers and two pichakarans - Which platform...hehe" LM: "romba pazhasu..she started as java develo

Was reading   thalai's latest blog post on Scottish National party's whitewash of a triumph in UK elections and its potential fallout. To me it would've felt like just another stats, but thalai being thalai, pulled off a totally new view point (to me at least) on the fallout of the election. How the victory of over 95% majority can spell death knell to the concept of an "United" kingdom and can cause David Cameron to cry "Great Scott!!" for all different reasons. What if the Scotts declare freedom from English crown? Will they be able to thrive as an independent country or rush back to IMF or WB with a begging bowl to bail them out? Considering the examples of countries that have been split, like Bosnia, Serbia and the other lots prior to them, they don't have a glorious precedence to follow either. At times I wonder how can an entire country go bankrupt, just like that!!! When people stop paying taxes, when government doesn't get money to pay i

metu podu hel-metu podu un thaaikodutha thalaikku inge thattupaadu Thangamay traffic ku illai kattupaadu pala kirukku irukkuthu sarukkal irukuthu helmet poadu ethanai thalaigal kondom irupatho oruthalai athanai izhakka atharkoru choodam kaati chuthi poadu metu podu hel-metu podu un thaaikodutha thalaikku inge thattupaadu un makkal paatu aagum soga pattu endrum poraatam meelaa thuyaram paaru Thindaattam aagi pogum avanga paadu atharku vidivay illai helmet podu metu podu hel-metu podu un thaaikodutha thalaikku inge thattupaadu Endrum kanneer vendaam Konjam gavanam kondaal helmet uyir kaakkum paathugaappaai sendraal Mannil konda kadamai niraiya irukka Vinnirukku sella sirithu porumai kaakka metu podu hel-metu podu un thaaikodutha thalaikku inge thattupaadu Hehee...Duet padathula vara "mettu podu" song ulta adichi helmet poda solli oru campaign vacha epdirukkumnu thinkinathin vilaivu.

To me, atheists are a confused crowd. As individuals they sound pretty bright with their intellectual thought processes and their immense self confidence cum brave nature. But as a crowd, they always turn out to be a muddled lot. Look no further than any leading political party in TN. Pick any of their cadre and ask few basic questions about their party ideology. Atheism will be predominant amongst them as its always tied to caste based politics. The cadre would be proud to perform all those done by theists to their gods for their leaders, yet hypocritically will refuse the presence of god. Whenever anyone pushes a blame on their leaders, they wouldn't just defend their action but would also pose an alternate question shifting the blame elsewhere. The same is happening with Uthama Villain/Linga movies as well. Everyone knows both the movies are banal at best. Each belong to totally different genres if at all one can classify them into any and performance wise they are like chalk

This would've been the title bandied by our jingoistic media on the latest 'thought provoking' statement by SGP premier. He wants his saga citizens (considering the size of SGP, dare i say city-zen?? ) to stop sending their kids to universities lest there be dearth of people to work on shop floors and port yards and hotels and where not, that boosts that country's economy. Sometime back, I had a similar thought here on who will man those very jobs listed by SGP premier while everyone wants to be an engineer or a doctor. Probably the premier has put a different twist to that question. When you know there are only so much available for a doctor or an engineer why bother to study for them?? or even better, when there is a job on hand that can be started right away, why dwell in years of study for something that is lottery?? The news comes in at a time when our people are celebrating or mourning, depending on whichever side of the 1200 mark of plus two score. The yearly m

Movie watching world would be split across the lines of those who don't like Uthama Villain, the latest movie by Kamal and those who appreciate the efforts of Kamal to keep experimenting and keeping alive the age old traditions and forgotten cultures and icons. But the verdict on the movie would be near unanimous that its a Mokkai. Mokkai is a relatively new word to tamizhagarathi, in the sense that it doesn't just mean "blunt" as per its original meaning. It could refer to anything boring, dull, unsophisticated, tease, insult, confusing or down right stupid. Its impossible to find an equivalent single word in any language which could convey such a myriad of meanings and emotions. Uthama villain movie, earns that tagline mokkai for it matches every single meaning that could be contrived out of that otherwise harmless word. (Shabbbaa..ithuku thaan kamal padam paakapdaathungarathu...oru vaarathai pathi sollavay oru para aaguthu!!!) The storyline is a pretty novel o

They did everything possible to promote the movie in the normal manner. There was a mandatory guest episode in "Koffee with DD" with the lead pair and Gautam Menon thrown in, then there was a special programme in Kalignar TV with the cast and a side show in Sun Music. But despite all these promos, wonder how many would've even heard of this movie, which is probably the best con movie of the year, with 8 months to run. Social media has been relatively silent about this movie but whoever posted a status, couldn't quite stop gushing about the story. When you think of a Con job like, robbing a jewelry store, what should be on your checklist? If you think of secrecy being the first in the list, this movie breaks that and makes a mockery of it. The owner of the store is given the plan by the very person who is going to rob the bank with assurance that he will keep him posted on the progress. His best friend informs the police about the robbery and gives them constant LIVE