Variety is the spice of life

I always make a point to read the previous year ending post before posting the one for present year, just to get a kick of what was going on my mind at that time. Junior took to play school big time and had brought in a reform of sorts with his way of wishing. Whenever i go to pick him up from school it makes me feel so happy, to hear teachers from other sections as well, addressing him as the vanakkam kid. His tantrums at home are reaching critical mass and makes me worry about how we are going to handle him in coming years. Of the several things that i never understand, the foremost being, how my parents controlled me and my tantrums when i was a kid. My mom says (at least now) that i used to be very quiet and was never a mischievous as a kid. With each passing day, the way junior is shaping up, is a lesson for me on my own childhood and also on the cause and effect theory. From being the fun and cute part, the responsible portion of raising a kid begins with this year starting with...

Let me start off with this. I am not a big time reader. I barely average a book and half per MONTH!!! And my taste in reading is pretty straight jacketed around thrillers and commercial masala flavored scripts. But if I’ve to remember any standout story for this year, its neither of the 17 books that’ve read this year (excluding Sujatha’s short novels second part, that I am relishing at present). Both of my picks are from the weekly magazine Kumudham. The first one is a short story titled “Maanudam”. The old man from the story, picks a dog from the street, as a pup and rears it as his pet. It listens to everything the old man says and he boasts that the dog even understands his spoken tongue – tamil. The old man’s son lives in some foreign land and rarely visits him. One day while on his evening walk along with the dog, he catches up with his friend. The old man tells him about his situation that his son has been asking him to relocate to the foreign land, for which the friend wonder...

It takes guts to have a guest appearance in your milestone movie or should it be called as craziness at its peak? In the entire runtime of 2 hours and 40plus minutes, Vijay Sethupathi, appears for the first 40 minutes and that's it. Ever since the movie got released, this has been the talking point. How can a man, be so casual about his milestone movie, promoting it as his own, when he hardly has any screen time. Some even felt cheated. But considering the way, he has shaped up his career around solid scripts and not on his own image, the movie is a tribute to his own self. During some of the promotional events, the director had openly stated that he would've wanted a much more older, well established actor, to play the role, finally donned by VS. The reason was very obvious on screen as it required someone with solid experience and unquestionable credentials to pull it off and the almost the entire running time of the movie, post the demise of the lead character is driven ...

Of the handful of authors I follow, Sujatha is my favorite across languages. Though his books are only in tamil, his writing style is nonpareil, if one considers the timeline in which he published his stories. Being ahead of his time is something that sits lightly on him as his thought processes were always advanced. He is one of those authors who took to the concept of simplifying things and telling in a nutshell to a whole new level. He can talk about Chekov, Nabokov, Einstein , complex algorithms, tongue twister medicine, computers, hi-fi science fiction and human emotions everything at layman’s level and probably the frontrunner is bringing science fiction to tamil audience. In one of his advice/suggestions/recommendations, he has a ten point formula for leading life. The very first point is the basis behind this post. He states that, everyone should have a value system – an unshakable belief – something to hold on to. It can be god, your favorite hero/personality, nature, own s...

Not sure when was the last time I read a 400 page book in 5 hours’ time. This is one author, I couldn’t resist, just for the kind of locations and premises he comes up with in this series. What started as a casual airport read, when I stumbled on “Seven ancient wonders” had progressed onto “Six sacred stones”, “Five greatest warriors”, “Four legendary kingdoms” and has now settled onto this one. It’s not just with numerals on title, that this author carry the similarity with Chetan Baghat but also on the almost B-grade-ish way in which he lets his hero, Jack West solve the impossible problems. If the quest involves finding the lost tomb of Jesus, call up Jack. Is it related to identifying Atlantis- the lost city, El Dorado or Thule, call up Jack. He would even find all three of them in one shot on the same day itself. And even better, just give him a couple of ancient scrolls and books and some random imagery, he can save the earth from catastrophe, which the super villains in the ...

Latest addiction. Have long been wanting to check this drama series, specifically because of the kind of memes that were floating around, teasing the timeline concept. I started watching the current season, Season 5 and got immediately hooked to the series. The concept of time travel is pretty interestingly explained in the movie and you would never be able to use the word timeline in normal sense ever again once you start with these series. The titular character, The Flash, is played by a guy who will never age I guess. Reminds a bit of the fight club guy, Edward Norton and has a Matthew Mcconaughey-ish voice. Conceptually, I thought, Flash must be the weakest of heroes for his strength is nothing but run!! If in case of danger, he may probably be able to outrun the danger was what I felt while reading about his super powers. It’s the same, literally in the series and storyline as well. But how he develops on it and uses the same power to overcome different types of villains has bee...

When junior gets really cranky, the only option that would calm him down would be a walk down the road. I hardly go out and wifey is worse than me, which leaves junior frustrated like a caged animal. But when I do take him out, it’s me who enjoys the most, looking at his antics. Many times, I over think and over analyze and it is not off limits from junior as well. I’ve never been able to quite comprehend my childhood on how I turned up the way I am today and always try to watch him closely to see his reactions. It has helped me a lot in understanding my own psyche and some key reasons behind my personality. Having grown on a steady diet of Amarchitra katha and jataka tales, I try to infuse those stories and reading as an habit into him. At the moment it’s a grand failure with any book going into tatters within minutes. Padhichi kizhichathu is happening literally. On our late evening walks, he would exclaim with joy in identifying the name of gods he had seen on the videos and book c...

Costliest movie ever made in India. First movie, out and out shot for 3D viewing. Biggest ever technical crew assembled on par with blockbuster Hollywood movies and longest ever wait for a tamil movie, with never decreasing hype. All these hyperboles sum up the desperation to ensure the movie somehow manages to break even the production cost of about 400 crore rupees. Funnily this number started from somewhere around 300 crores and has now crossed 500 crores. The fans just couldn’t let go of any opportunity to bring in the superlatives when their idol is concerned, but this might be a matter of different concern for the producer if the IT department starts noticing. Come to think of it, it’s a significant FDI on one particular venture and should probably have the blessings of the government from a “Make in India” scheme perspective!! With the Superstar being open about his political ambitions and transforming his fans club into party setup, every single movie release is treated as a pr...

Gilsbert at onsite: “Hey I am Gilsbert” “I am Tan” “Is it so? Doesn’t look like it” “err..means?” Looking at his reaction, quickly back tracks into a different conversation. After sometime, while trying to resell the same joke. “So Tan..you sign by cause” “err..means” This time wanting to clear the point, Gilsbert puts in “extra” effort “Sin/Cos” “I didn’t get you” “Not a maths guy is it?” “What??” “Sorry..” muttering to himself walks away. While leaving for the day, “Ok Tan..catch you tomorrow” “Sure man” “What time you are planning to start?” “Not sure..will take a couple more hours” “Wow..you ARE a workaholic” sensing an opportunity “may your spirit never tan” “err…sorry. Couldn’t get the last part” Oh..Come onnnnnnnnnn