Variety is the spice of life

Padam release aana udanaye decided, will watch this movie only on Vijay tv. Adhuvum preview paathutu elaarum koovinatha ketutu was absolutely sure, ithu sathiyama puriyaathunu. It got released on OTT today and I am proven like a theorem. Ithanaikum saw it with tamil audio and English subtitle. Also had Wiki for the movie opened along side google for querying about entropy, second law of thermodynamics, turnstiles and every other science crap that is casually uttered in the movie. Ennoda certification exams ku kuda ivlo preparationoda ukkanthathu illa. Padam edungada na paadam paadam a eduthu vachirukaan. Oru manushan theaterla intha padam paakanumna, naalu ticket book pannitu poganum. One for his seat and rest for having all this paraphernalia to understand the movie. Ucchakatta kodumai being, he thought of this script 20 years back it seems and took five years to write. Wonder how many years the actors would’ve taken to understand it. Just dialogues mug adichitu nadikkavay remedial cl...

With the right answer shared by Vikramadithyan, the vedhalam dutifully flew back to the tamarind tree. This time when the king went back to take the vedhalam, he was surprised to not a single green leaf budding from that otherwise barren tree. He cut the rope tying the vedhalam to the tree and lifted it on his back. The vedhaalam started giggling and began its charade of narrating another story, of course, with the same criteria. Long long ago so long ago in the kingdom of Vrukshamapuri – Land of trees, a place where department of justice and police had no work, for people where righteous and honest, where department of social welfare was long closed, for people were friendly and supportive of each other, came an unique case. One fine day, the judge was woken from his deep slumber by his servant that a case has come to court. Half wondering whether it was a bad dream, the judge started for the court. Hearing the news of a case been produced to the court for justice, the king himself de...

As requested by Thala, here comes the first attempt at translating Vedhalam stories 😊 This is probably one of the most famous of all the stories narrated by the vedhalam.  Undeterred king Vikram, carries the vedhalam back from the tree towards the place, where the evil priest is awaiting the delivery. The vedhalam begins its trick of story telling to make Vikram break his silence, the bet being the usual – if he doesn’t reply correctly or remain silent despite knowing the right answer his head will explode and if he does speak out the vedhalam will fly back to its tree. Despite that loss-loss situation, Vikram was determined to beat the devil at its own game. And so the story begun –  Long long ago, there was a village called “Dhaaraalapattinam” – literally meaning a place of plenty. Like the proverbial roads of Utopia, the roads were actually paved with gold and prosperity was the first, middle and last name of everyone in that village. Every house had a huge thinnai (place ...

Next to Sujatha, Indira soundarraajan is my favorite tamil author. His books revolve around religious symbolism and mystery, with many of them turned into tv series. I stumbled on this book when searching for something else. Interestingly not a single review was detailed about this book, with everyone recommending it as a must read alone. The book has two parts and both of them had five star rating. I wanted to buy the book and wasn’t sure if it would worth it as it was quite costly. I decided to buy the first part alone to give it a try and now kicking myself for not buying both of them. That is the one line review for the book. It has been amazing and awesome from page 1. Primary reason being, as the title suggests, it is the story of Vikaramadithya maharaja and his escapades with the vedhaalam. Vedhalam sollum kathaigal has been my favorite since childhood and had long been wanting to read the full set of stories. The kids version that comes in Amar Chitra katha and other illustrate...

Many times I’ve wondered why our politicians do things the way they do. Like plastering every visible wall with their party leader posters, flag culture (we can have a whole big blog dedicated to this one), addressing the electoral mandate as “ruling”, calling themselves as leaders when in reality they just represent a bunch of people and the concept of cutouts and arches. To me everything resonates with the way things would’ve been during the times of kings and queens, where in if a royal visits a particular place, the citizens of that area may celebrate the royal darshan in similar form. The concept of having flags, is very much symbolic with this fact along with everything else. The intention with which every party is formed in theory may be on some principle or other. But the moment a leader is anointed, it becomes a family affair and hereditary. Like royal lineage, it’s the leader, his kith and kin, who form the succession line to the party leadership throne. And curiously the top...

If at all I’ve to pick a brand to represent Junior, it would be “Converse”. He is my converse version in many aspects, at least at the moment and I’ve no complaints as a parent. But it tickles me at time wondering who is the kid at home. I am a big fan of chocolates and as a kid if at all I had to wish for something it would have been a chocolate tree, having ice cream for fruits, with all but 32 of my teeth being sweet. When I offered him a Dairy milk, he flatly refused and said, chocolates are junk food and lead to cavity!!! While one of my hand was offering him a piece, the other was halfway down my throat with a big chunk. I paused for a second to weigh my options, whether to set a good example by avoiding chocolate. That I decided to sacrifice the sanctity of my gums for my kid and took his share as well should fetch me some square fee on the hall of fame for parenting is a different story. He watches YouTube videos on healthy food and the impact of having junk food like chocolate...

First up – Thanks Thala for the recommendation. The author is one of my fast favorites since Sapiens and I relish the thought processes he brings into his books. This article had 2 parts, one about surveillance ( privacy of the individuals vs “greater common good” at times of pandemic) and global solidarity vs nationalism. Each of them being my favorite topics of discussion I was naturally very curious to read  About his views on the same. In a nutshell, his views sounded bit dystopian and utopian respectively on the topics.  Realistically, the surveillance tools have decreased in size, increased in processing capability and have fast gone beyond the stage where governments even bother to acknowledge it as a breach. There used to be a time when in novels and movies the chief or the lawyer will reject any evidence by the detectives as inadmissible if they were gathered without intimation. Nowadays I guess no one can distinguish between what is available in public vs private. In...