Variety is the spice of life

Recently I saw a meme in which it was mentioned the reason why we like certain series better than others being, it may reflect on the thing that we love but lack. My favorite of all time being FRIENDS, couldn’t help but ponder a bit on that meme. If I remember right, I’ve been watching that series from around 1999, if not early. By the early 2000’s when I moved to Bangalore, the DVDs of entire seasons of Friends became a matter of pride possession amongst my acquaintances. It became an ice breaker and immediate conversation topic while meeting new people and quickly became the defacto topic of discussion, in every chat stream, if there was a dearth of one. I used to think, after FRIENDS I would never feel interested enough to follow any other series and this space is evident to how badly that went. But despite watching so many series, I always come back to this one. It made me wonder why I am so smitten with this! And like me why so many people who started watching this series at the s

How do I look?  This is one question that I’ve never bothered to check for the first 2 decades of my life, for I was afraid of the answer. I’ve often been the fattest boy in any group and morbidly obese all throughout my school days. There have been times when I would wait for evening time, which will through elongated shadow, wondering when I would ever resemble those shape. Till the time I left Chennai for a job in a different city, I had never taken any step to exercise or take up fitness activities. With nothing else to do and with a decent gym company provided in the same campus, almost every evening of mine was spent there, and I finally reached the other end of the spectrum when I gym instructor one day, asked me to reduce cardio as I was too lean already! It was music for my ears but despite every wall of the gym being covered in mirrors I never liked what I saw in the reflection for it always showed me how others saw me rather than who I was. Unless it was the magic mirror fro

Ever since the “vadakkan” issue was hot topic in TN, this question kept ringing in mind. The concept of people moving from their native for greener pastures has been noted as one of the key factors contributing to economic growth, not just of the migrant group, but of the regions involved as well. If I remember right, Future Shock by Toffler also spoke on something similar, I guess. I even related it with some of my friends who’ve been more successful considering that they’ve changed 3 states and multiple places within same city and different cities as their job took them along. All said and done, there was a significant point that was made by one of the Youtuber on why the people from North are finding favor down south, the reason being the cost factor. The migrants are paid about a tenth of what is being paid to locals came out as a consistent reason from many observers. It was a commonsense point that obviously the wages decided the laborers not just in these cases but everywhere wo

Few weeks back we attended a wedding reception of a close relative. They had booked a huge venue, a place that would appeal to political parties for conducting their meets and events. It was the starting point of several things that made me realize how much weddings and especially the facilities at the venues have undergone a change. As a kid I used to hate attending these events primarily because of the seating arrangements especially the chairs at the dining halls. They were made of wood and were of foldable type, that came in uniform size. It made them immensely uncomfortable for anyone who is taller than usual or short/fat. I belonged to the latter category and even before knowing about the term “ergonomics” I suffered from an incorrect design. While eating, the contents on the plantain leaf would either be out of reach for me or would be floating down on to my trousers. And at times the sides wouldn’t be keeled properly and would keep pinching. You may wonder how many marriages I

Simplicity has its own sheen that is unmatched by any amount of glitz and glamour. Agreed that, all those pomp and hype surrounding releases from Super stars have their own space. But they are like soap bubbles and have an equivalent life term. Movies..rather..stories like Balagam are like honey sweet fragrance from a freshly blooming flower, which even if it is spread then, never dissipates completely. I watched this movie with zero expectation and the first ten fifteen minutes was not helping its cause. There are zero known faces, except for the hero, who I remember playing the role of one of the friends surrounding the hero in a movie previously. Maybe the rustic casting added to the authenticity of the story and may be their take on the characters were actual resemblance to real time people. This is a movie that works as a sum of many parts, where each part is a short story. There is a grandpa character who could be naughty, haughty, nosy, helpless and many more as the situation de