Variety is the spice of life

 It is no longer global warming but global hotting or more precisely global burning like hell!!! If there is one topic which finds place year after year in this space that would be on how hot it is becoming with every passing year and how unbearable it is becoming with every summer that seems to be on an ever increasing trend. During my school days it used to be 4 months of summer from around April till june-july end and then it would relatively become cooler with rainy season starting. Or bare minimal when it used t blaze away during day time, evening will be filled with rain. This year, from March onwards, AC has been running non-stop everynight and we are already in the 9th month with forecast of every day having increased temperature by atleast a couple of centigrades. This year may be exceptional with el nino, la nina and all combinations of those vowels and consonants playing havoc across the globe. But it seems to be increasing severely despite the peak summer being supposed...

Intha padatha disturb pannama release panna vitruntha, result automatically maari irukkum. Idea illatha arasiyalvaathis!!

One liner to begin a book review - Read the book wrapper! Second liner to continue - book padikarapo wrapper cover OZHUNGA padikavum (self note) at least author perai muzhusaga padikavum!!! After reading " The Widow" as a Jeffrey Archer novel and sharing a post about it as a Jeffrey Archer novel, i wanted to pick a different book by Archer to see if it was "any better" than "The Widow". En nalla neram, John Grisham en bloglaam padikrathilla. Or atleast any of his millions of followers. Illati court case aagi asingapatruka vendi irukum. Avvvv...oray the puppy shame moment. Enda unaku John Grishamkum Jeffrey Archerukumay difference therilaye neelaam book review podalamanu kekarathu nalla theriuthu. Irunthalum..yet another "hehe" momentnu thodachutu poga vendiyathay. How i ended up finding this is a thing in itself. When i was checking for the chronology of publication to "evaluate" (mmkum) if Archer wrote "The widow" before or a...

Ever since Netflix announced about this maniratnam production, the expectation around the 9 short films, each based on a human emotion has been sky high. With most of the top names of movie-wood already being signed along with top tech crew, the hype was justified a bit as well. Mani himself had written one of those stories and rest are directed by notable names of tamil cinema. Per me the best of the lot would be Payasam (bhibatsa – disgust) , Project Agni (Adbhuta - incredible) and to some extent can include Raudhram as well. Rest of the 6 are anywhere between passable to outright crap.  Ironically the one related to disgust was that of a sheer delight. It is based on a story by T.Janakiraman (Thi.Ja) a very famous tamil novelist. The reason why I picked this one, directed by Vasanth, as the best of the lot, owing simply to the thought process behind the story selection. Of all the 9, this is the best fit to the emotion being depicted and considering that its based on a novel, ku...

Ipdilaam tanglishla type panna seekramavay sethirum nu solreengala..rightu. Coming to the topic, the reason behind this post is the way in which the language is being introduced for my kid. Ever since the classes started, every single day has been more disappointing and irritating as a participant on those classes as I sit along with my kid. The reason behind those emotions being, the poor way of taking the kids through to something that is so special and wonderful. The alphabets have been introduced bang on day 1 and kids were asked to start practicing writing them. Most of them had no clue what they were doing and were mistaking it for some art form. The way the alphabets were introduced was also horrible. For the first letter, it was explained as a “laddu with a curve, intersecting with a sleeping line and a standing line”!!! And this on the very second class of the language getting introduced!! How the hell kids will follow this instruction!! And the worst part being, the entire me...

Yet another movie review post. Vara vara movie reviews thavira vera post poda ideavay thona maatenguthu!! Vidhyasamaana bloggers blocka irukku!! This movie watching happened like starting your scooter. After several kicks and starts I had given up on the movie. Happened to see an interesting review post and it rekindled my curiosity. Incidentally, every time I gave up on the movie, it was always at the same scene, where the reporter person chats with the bartender, starting to narrate with the dialogue “when I was a woman”. Apparently, the story was beginning to take off with that very line. It goes through so many twists and turns that the ending was the most paradoxical one I’ve ever seen or read in a story. The theme deals with time travel and it resembles the “Dark” Netflix series to an extent. But the thought process was much simple with just a couple of characters involved, should is say one (oops..spoiler).  The story literally begins with a bang and the supposed protagonist...

Been on my mind for a long while since the news of SPB’s demise came in. If I’ve to prepare a playlist for the songs sung by the big man, these would be on that list for sure, in no specific order. Of the several thousands just picking those that came immediately on top of my mind. “Ilaya Nila pozhigirathu” – guess without this song, no playlist for SPB would be complete. Any person with a guitar, if they hadn’t tried that interlude on this song, are not worth owning a guitar. Dot. “Omkaara naadhaanu” – Shankarabaranam is a movie that I will remember only as a audio cassette. Have never seen the movie many times but would’ve listened to the songs at least a couple of 100 times each. His best effort, possibly nascent, in semi-Carnatic song rendition “Karpoora bommai ondru” – The lady version of this song is more like a lullaby while SPB’s version doesn’t have any instrument accompanying the rendition. I tear up every time I hear his version which is so soulful and gut wrenching that thi...

“Gala gala gala vena siri Andraada kavalaiyai kadaasi eri Pasiyai maranthaan saappaatu raaman Pakkathil irunthaan thenali raaman Pasiyai maranthaan saappaatu raaman Pakkathile thenali raaman Crazy..Crazy” My earliest memory of “Crazy” connect was this title song for one of the Madhu cheenu series, from Doordarshan. The tune was very catchy and “Gold Spot” cool drinks had something similar I guess. Wasn’t sure whether we had TV at home then, but never got to see the programme. Our neighbours, used to keep their TV volume very high and I was the Ekalavyan, who heard just the title song for those awesome laughathons. It was a weekly series I guess and the day after, in school, friends would be discussing, laughing out loud about the wisecracks from the previous day. I would be nodding off, laughing along with them, without even knowing the context. More like Joey from the Encyclopedia episode in F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Many of my friends, regularly visited Narada gana sabha, where his t...

I have often wondered, how people can idolize someone and show such blind faith. The fandom and the craziness with which they defend their heroes and literally worship them, I’ve often felt bad for not being able to enjoy such unbridled passion and love. I have always been nitpicking and choosy, going only by the performances and not on the individual. May be that is why I can never actually have a “favorite” actor/singer/musician whom I can blindly follow. If at all I’ve to break my norms and choose someone, it would be Sujatha, whose books I would ready any day any time, without bothering on a review. The next would be Crazy Mohan. I always felt, the person whom one idolizes, should be acceptable without controversy and should be relatable for general public. Of course, that is the baseline with which every hero worship begins. But without even realizing, Crazy Mohan had been such a great influence on my thoughts and words. I unabashedly and shamelessly try to imitate and copy his wo...

Last week was a deadly one. It was an ordinary Monday. The alarm rang as usual at 7.40 in the morning and mom threw the phone at me, for me to get up (in her version) and for me to switch it off and go to sleep (on my version).  Curiously I saw a message on my phone. It was from my colleague cum friend and the news was not good. His mom had not been keeping well for a while and the news of her passing away was my wake up call for that Monday. I immediately called my fellow colleagues and within next hour we were all set to leave for vellore where the funeral was taking place. We stayed till the end and came back pretty late into the night. My friend was a real dynamite of a person and is as active as a red ant after food on normal days. It was sad to see him stand dejected and forlorn. The next day was even more troubling one. While going to office got a message saying that one of our team mates had been killed on an road accident. He had been to kerala for some friends we...

I am all for rules and all for breaking the rules at the same time. Those which makes sense to the general majority need not necessarily always be right and that shouldn't be the qualification criteria for a rule. For example dress code. Being presentable and being comfortable is fine. Adhering to something which is either of them is not. Ditto for the "chalta hai" attitude of the vast majority, including me. Take public transport for example, If a bus breaks down, if the seat on a bus is cramped, if the bus doesn't arrive on time, if the bus doesn't stop at the designated "bus stop" area, if the conductor/driver is rude, if they treat passengers as cattle, if they don't give proper change, if the bus leaks during rain, if the seats are damaged and above all if any gal gets squashed molested in a bus ...everything goes. No one bates an eyelid to these things. While 50 rupee ticket A/c bus is cleaned regularly and seats are almost neat and well mainta...

Every once in a while there comes a news that makes your blood boil and every nerve in your body tense enough to pop out. The Connecticut massacre would be one such news that would've shocked the very essence of humanity out of everyone. Such a mindless mayhem!! Butchering 1st grade kids with bullets..cha. Even to think of the incident to type is nauseating. Cruel, Maniac, cold blooded...all swear words of all the earthly languages put together can still not describe what happened. Schools are temples of knowledge and wisdom and above all discipline and this definition applies all throughout the world and supposed to be even a safe haven in case of natural disasters. Its beyond my little mind to even think of any plausible or implausible reason as to why a guy would vent his ire out on school kids. Its an impossible impossible thing for me to digest and accept. He had not just killed the 30 odd lives but destroyed those families and also the fellow students who witnessed it. It wou...