Variety is the spice of life

What was heartening to see, turned out into the very thing, that people were worried about right at the beginning. Probably this was one protest where people willingly participated and more than being a war zone bubbling with emotion, it had also a festive mood to it. People from as far as tamabram and chrompet visited Marina beach with cartons of biscuit and food items to support the protestors and to be a part of it. The protest had rekindled that long lost fire that lay dormant on each of them and the tamil spirit was at its glorious display for all of those days when the students where at the war front. With their clear decision on not to allow any political parties anywhere near the protest zone, which was one of the sole reason for so many people joining them and also the dignified way in which they conducted themselves, cleaning up the place, taking care of each other, protecting the kids and womenfolk, the students won the hearts of all. Yaar kann patutho. The events of the l...

Konjam over thinking panrathu , kooda porantha gunam aaitathaala , this doesn’t sound weird from any angle. Even though I don’t exactly remember any of them being told to me as a child, but I always had this fear of what I would tell my kid as story or rhymes, when he comes to that stage. Where would I go for rhymes, especially tamizh ones for I barely remember anything!! With the educational institutes waging an all out war on our tradition and culture and with urban lifestyle almost already taking care of eradicating whatever else remaining from how we grew up and the kind of stories that one got to read and hear about, was having this nagging thought at all corners of mind. While searching for tamil rhymes in youtube stumbled  upon this treasure trove of videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaNodvDZksY&t=299s ​ called Kanmani papa padalgal with various volumes of them. Right from the dosaiyamma dosai to all those famous tamil rhymes like "ni...

I used to be a big fan of Robin Cook’s novels. In fact his were the first books of medical thriller genre that I got introduced to and guess wouldn’t be far from wrong to quote he was the front runner in this genre of novels. He never compromised on usage of medical terminologies and tests and processes and somehow, with the characters being strongly established and having connected with the readers, could go with the context for almost all of those terminologies without even bothering to refer google-aandavar or dictionary. When I began reading Arthur Hailey, whose novels are more like Ph.D thesis on each topic, the cookie begun to crumble and with introduction of Michael Crichton, Cook lost his captaincy J Especially with Michael Crichton’s style almost in synch with the flow and form of Cook. One major difference between the two was that, while both had interesting beginnings portions, Cook lost the knack over a period of time. Almost all his later books had a stale start and ending...

I’ve often quoted in this space that Matthew Reilley is one of my go to authors for leisure reading. His novels, those which I follow, are of 2 series. One having a hero called “Scarecrow” Shane Schofield and his adventures/escapades ala Mission Impossible Tom cruise style (with lot more gore and unimaginable action sequences and super villains). The other one is the Jack West Jr. series, with the namesake being the hero of the series. This one is my personal favorite for the only reason that, be it the first of the lot, 7 ancient wonders which was followed by 6 sacred stones or the previous edition five great warriors, the premises and the historical events that he mix up to make a fantastic potpourri of a story, is simply way too fast to put down once picked. The story moves at break neck pace and the single unifying thread amongst all the three novels is how earth faces destruction and with long lost ancient knowledge of the aliens, held secret all the while, is “unearthed” by Jack ...

Inspired by the events on marina beach மின்விளக்கினை  அணைத்தால்  சில்வண்டு  ஆயின் சிதறிடும் ஆனால் சேர்ந்திருந்தது  சிங்கங்களன்றோ வீம்பு  செய்தோரிடம்  கையால்  பேசாமல் கைபேசி  கொண்டு  விண்மீன்  ஒலியொத்த வெளிச்சம்  கண்ட தோழர்களே உம்மை  எண்ணி விம்மி  புடைக்குது  நெஞ்சம் ஆர்ப்பரிக்கும்  கடலும்  அடங்கி  போனது போர்  களம் “காணும்  பொங்கலாய்”  பொங்கி நின்ற  உம்மை  பார்த்து வெள்ளத்தனையது  மலர்  நீட்டம் வெள்ளம்  வென்று   தொடங்கியுள்ளது எமது  வீர  சிறார்களின்  சீற்றம் அக்னி  குஞ்சாய்  உள்ள  இக்  கடமை கனலை  காட்டு  பொந்தில்  வைத்திட கானகம்  இன்றில்லை ஆழ்  மனது  போதும் பாழ்  நினைத்து  பணம்  பண்ண  முயல்வது Petavo எந்த  நாடவோ  இருந்தாலும் சிங்கங்களின்  காவலில்  காளைகள் செழிப்பதை  காணுவீர்  விரைவில் ஏர்  தழுவிய  உழவா  ஏறு ...

There is nothing unusual about anything that happens as usual, as long what’s deemed unusual that which is always the usual for some specimens, namely Gilsbert. (Ppppaaahh..intha vaasagatha tee shirtlayum autolayum quotationavay podlam polarukkay!!! Note pannikaren) Getting bulb is nothing new for Gilsbert and its been pretty well documented in this blog space about all those great adventures which resulted in bulb award ceremony. This time was no exception except that the bulb was mutually and unknowingly shared by an unknown appracenti. It was yet another typical day when Gilsbert, forever and always lost in thought, entered a lift in office to go to 4th floor to meet his friend. Liftla porathu varathu ithelam china kozhandhai kooda thannala pannumay.. Ithula enna bulb vaanga mudiyum apdinu kelvi kekarvanga please proceed to rest of the section. Kekkathavangalum padikalam. Baadhagamillai. In the lift, he saw one appracenti with “V” tag, displaying the black and white photo tak...

Jallikattu Had been resisting to post on this topic for long. Didn’t want it to be just another post or a knee jerk reaction to something that is THE hot topic of the present. But considering the spontaneous outpouring and growing public outcry, felt if at all a topic is worth posting, this would be it. On the way to office, I saw a group of twenty something’s (Yup. We sad thirty somethings…why god why..avvvvvvvv) chatting out aloud on bus. By default, my mind blocked them out as yet another bunch of hooligans who show off and cause nuisance. The notion didn’t last a whole second when I noticed the charts and posters they were carrying. Needless to say, they were carrying slogans protesting against the ban on Jallikattu. Usually fellow passengers and conductors give cold shoulder to these youths. But today could witness something totally different. They were looked upon with pride and even those who were no way related to them, appreciated them and even urged to protest hard. The c...

By the time I could think of a topic, already this year is 3 weekend old!! Considering that whatever were simmering at year end last year are in full blown mode now, 2016 is not much missed in that aspect. Had started the year, as per my ritual of watching a movie on Dec 31’st night. So the next few posts could well be all reviews J Pongal release movielenthu will start – what else than Thalapathi’s Bairavaa. The tag line has become semma famous. The guy who made “Neruppuda” of Kabali famous with his gruff voice, has lent his skill to sing the “Varlaam vaa Bairava” song which appears whenever Vijay is there on screen fighting villains, which takes almost half the running time. With each movie, whether his market share increases or not, the number of gym boys who fly around in fight scenes at his mere punch seem to increase exponentially. Even rubber balls can’t bounce as much as the ease with which he trounces the henchmen. Stunt master ku Jai ho. Either  Keerthi Suresh looks w...