Writer Sujatha was recently admitted in a hospital due to pneumonia. Desikan writes a touching note on his blog.

While its shocking to know that Sujatha had a pneumonia attack that bothered his kidney, on a bright side, he is recovering quickly from it. Let's hope that Writer Sujatha recovers completely and comes back to entertain us with his columns.

Here's the piece from Desikan's blogpost -

குடியரசு தினத்திற்கு சில நாள்கள் முன் ஒரு காலையில் எனக்கு தொலைப்பேசி அழைப்பு வந்தது. பேசியவர் திருமதி. சுஜாதா

"தேசிகன், சாருக்கு உடம்பு சரியில்லை, அப்பல்லோ ஆஸ்பத்திரியில் ஐ.சியூவில் இருக்கார்."

"மாமி என்ன ஆச்சு?"

"புத்தகக் கண்காட்சி, சிவாஜி திரைப்பட விழாவுக்கெல்லாம் போனதா என்னன்னு தெரியலை, நிமோனியா வந்து, அதுக்கு சாப்பிட்ட மாத்திரைனால கிட்னி affect ஆகி, இப்ப மூச்சுச் திணறல் வந்து ஆக்ஸிஜன் வெச்சிருக்காங்க"

"யார் பாத்துக்கரா?"

"யாருக்கும் தெரியாதுப்பா. ஏதோ உன்கிட்ட சொல்லணும்னு தோணித்து, சொன்னேன், அவர் தம்பிக்குக் கூட தெரியாது"

அந்த வாரம் சென்னை சென்று அவரை அப்பல்லோ மருத்துவமனை ஐ.சி.யுவில் பார்த்தேன். உடம்பு மெலிந்து, குழந்தை போல இருந்தார். குழந்தை மாதிரியே பேசினார்.

"என்ன தேசிகன் எப்படி இருக்க. இப்ப என்ன கிறுஸ்துமஸ் லீவா ?"

"சார் கிறுஸ்துமஸ் முடிஞ்சு, பொங்கல் முடிஞ்சு இன்னிக்கி குடியரசு தினம்"

"ஓ. ஆமாம். உள்ளே இருந்ததால ஒண்ணும் தெரியலை. முதல்ல வெளியே வரனும் தேசிகன். இங்கே போர் அடிக்குது. இப்ப இந்த வாக்மென் தான் என் நண்பன், பாட்டு கேட்கிறேன். காலையில் பக்திப் பாட்டெல்லாம் வைக்கிறாங்க. ஆனா இந்த ஹெட் ஃபோன் தான் உறுத்துது. அந்த கேபிள் லென்த் பொறலை. காட்லெஸ் ஹெட் போன் எங்க கிடைக்கும் ?"

"இங்க சென்னைலயே கிடைக்கும், கிடைச்சா வாங்கி அனுப்பறேன்"

"காலையில பேப்பர் படிக்கிறேன், ஆனால் நான் ஆஸ்பத்திரிக்கு வந்த போது என்ன ஹெட்லைன்ஸ் இருந்ததோ அதே தான் இப்ப இருக்கு, ஒண்ணும் மாறலை" என்றார். நான் புன்னகை செய்தேன்.

"சீக்கரம் வெளியே வாங்க இன்னொரு டிரிப் ஸ்ரீரங்கம் போகலாம்" என்றேன். முகம் மலர்ந்தது. "கட்டாயம் போகலாம்," என்றார் தன்னம்பிக்கையுடன்.

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T.S. Narasimhan, the producer of the hit 80's television version of R K Narayan's Malgudi Days is back with the next installment. Shankar Nag who directed the 80's show, has passed away. The 'new' Malgudi Day will be directed by Kavitha Lankesh. And I first read it on rediff, in an interview with Kavitha Lankesh.

To select 15 stories was quite challenging. I had to select new stories, as tales from Swamy and Friends had been done by Shankar Nag. So, I had to read all the works of Narayan again and took stories like Lawley Road, Snake Song, Salt and Sawdust.

I am getting a positive response. You should know that, when Shankar Nag directed the serial, there were more black and while TV sets and no private channels to compete with Doordarshan. Of course, Nag's efforts were also classy. Things are different now, yet the reactions I have been getting are wonderful. I think my efforts have been widely appreciated.

From the interview, it seems like the broadcast has already begun. I'm sure it will be interesting to watch the post-2K Malgudi Days.

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I don't think you should miss Aaraamthinai's two-part interview[Part 1 and 2] with Badri Seshadri. It's been sometime since the interview was published and it was only today I was able to read it.

Badri's reply to the straight forward questions were as usual, very logical. He was spot-on about non-existence of competition in Tamil publishing circles and govt's help for books publishers. Except that he was a little aggressive about the questions on tamil literature books. I wasn't expecting Badri to be blunt with those answers, rather I should say it was a little shocking to hear that from Badri.

On a different note, recently Badri has become the face of Tamil Blogging. Whenever there is a snippet news or a covery story on Tamil blogging, they must be saying, "Call Badri". Part of the reason is that he is Chennai and is easily reachable. Just like how Kribs [No comparison though] was there in every single blogging meeting or roadshow. While for someone new to blogging, it may be interesting but for bloggers who read stuff day in and out, it gets pretty boring to keep hearing the same person talk about blogging in main stream media.

In any case, if you have been watching the Tamil Publishing scene for the last couple of years, you couldn't avoid but notice Kizhakku Pathippagam's birth and growth. They came in with a bang. Especially with Tamil blogging picking up and people who were involved in Kizhakku were bloggers, they had a good word-of-the-blog publicity. Also their marketing and quality of books were impressive. More impressive were line-up of books they got in. They published the entire list of Ashokamitran and Aathavan, sparing a couple of books. And they already published around 150 books to their credit. And that's good going.

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Just after completing the Silvia series, Sujatha is back with the next serving of Katrathum Petrathum. This is 4th part of Katrathum Petrathum and it starts with a Sujatha style analysis of the tamil world.

KP is turning out to be the biggest of series that Sujatha has ever written. While it started as an autobiographical column, it continues as an extended version of Kanayazhiyin Kadaisi Pakkam. Even Sujatha haters have been strong followers of Kanayazhiyin Kadaisi Pakkam in the 80's. While KKP had more of literary stuff, KP is sort of a weekly blog. And I might right in saying that KP is slowly over-taking KKP's fame.

Just in case, if you haven't read Katrathum Petrathum Part 1, 2 and 3, you could get a compiled book version in the stores. And I hope someday after KP stops for good, there will be consolidated version. But for now, it KP Part 4.

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Couple of weeks back, yet another nice soul, got a bunch of books from Chennai. This bunch didn't contain any Sujatha books except for Katrathum Petrathum 3.

Ashokamithran's Ottran was the highlight of this bunch and I'm currently at the fag end of this book. I think its a great book. One of the finest from Ashokamitran. Ottran is partly fiction, partly memoir. Ottran chronicles seven months of Ashokamitran's stay in the Iowa University during the 70's. He was invited to stay there as a part of global writers program. Ashokamitran makes some fantastic-yet-simple observations of the desi life in the US which hasn't been registered in tamil literature until now. Being written in the first person style, this is a gripping and down-to-earth slice of a writer's life.

The other books included two more from Ashokamitran. Karaindha Nizhalgal - a novel based on Chennai filmdom and Azhivatrathu, collection of Ashokamitran shortstories written after the millennium. This bunch also included two of S. Ramakrishnan's series, Thunnaiezhuthu and Kathavilasam that were published by Vikatan. Ra. Ki Rangarajan's Naalu Moolai was also one of them.

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Kamal Hassan's shortstory in Vikatan[28 May 2006] named, Anayaa Neruppu, is a dazzling sample of his story-telling skills. I'm not hinting the story. But it's a class apart. No jokes. Tell me if you weren't amazed.

P.S - I read it for the second and third time. I'm still amazed. Much more than the first time. How could he ever think of this dimension, from a story that's so common. Every single sentence has been crafted after much thought. Brilliant. I'm not going ga-ga because it's Kamal. For a short story, this is one helluva trip.

P.P.S - Just came back after watching the Da Vinci Code. It did strike me that Kamal just explained, in this story, how Dan Brown managed a Da Vinci Code. This story is a sort of mini Da Vinci Code on Hinduism.

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* This is probably the most boring post ever written on this blog. So skip it, if you feel like *

The real change in the book market is not the big guy vs. the little guy, or chain vs. indie stores. Rather, it's the reader's greater impatience, a symptom of our amazing literary (and televisual) plenitude. In the modern world we are more pressed for time, and we face a greater diversity of cultural choices. It was easy to finish Tolstoy's War and Peace when there were few other books around and it was hard to find them. Today, finishing it means forgoing many other options at our fingertips. As a result, we tend to consume ideas in smaller bits, a proposition that (in another context) economists labeled the "Alchian and Allen theorem." Long, serious novels are less culturally central than they were 100 years ago. Blogs are on the rise, and most readers prefer the ones with the shorter posts. Our greater access to books also means that each book has less time to prove itself. A small percentage of the books published account for a large share of the profits, thus setting off a race to track reader demand. Many customers want very recent best-sellers, often so they can feel they are reading something trendy, something other people are talking about. Of course, that's its own kind of affectationand not an entirely pleasing one.

Did you find yourself relaxed to read that entire paragraph ? Or did you skip few lines and went straight down.

The above paragraph was just a piece from a larger article. First, I wasn't even comfortable to paste a huge quote because I felt no one would read this entire paragraph. Such is the speed of reading these days. The quote rightly says, how people are more and more interested in consuming smaller bits of information than larger ones.

This is due to the in-famous information overload, being discussed in this blog often. I've been munching my thoughts on this info overload for atleast 2 months now. Resistance if futile. I couldn't resist the information overload. In this speedy world of internet and weblogs and podcasts, books are becoming a heavier by the day. The moment you shut-off from the world and go back to books, you tend to have withdrawal symptoms. By the time one completes half a book, there are a dozen novels to be read, a dozen Mission Impossibles to be watched, handful of blogposts to be written.

At the same time, here is another thought. To write a book, something thats published on wood pulp, takes a long time. The book has to be composed , edited and published. And it takes it's own time to reach the hands of readers. Someone has to read the book and then write a piece of appraisal on it. Only after this, the author of the book gets the first comments from his readers. Until then, its like waiting political parties waiting for the vote count, a grave silence.

Blogs are from a different leaque. I'm now writing this blogpost. I will post this[even without editing] in the next few minutes. Most probably the first comments could be seen within the first two hours. Sometimes, when books are discussed here, there is a grave silence but that is a different issue. So I as a blogger know the comments for or against will reach this blogpost in the next 2 hours. Whereas imagine if someone wants to write this same stuff in a book. It would take weeks/months for him to get the bouquets or brickbats.

At the same time, Blogs are laudatory and ephemeral. Books stand over time. Sidin Vadakut had written the famous blogpost on single south indian men. That was probably the most famous blogpost ever written. Leave out the war cries on IIPM(which were again ephemeral), they just caused some hot air. Now do you think Sidin's post will be remembered 5 years from now. But if only it was a book, it would reach out for years to come. That's just my belief.

May be all the above is just trash. May be we are going through a transformation and blogs are probably the future books. We don't know, atleast me. Neverthless, this urbanised world is rapidly moving towards something. And its causing a lot of information overload. I have no clue how I would survive the load but I wish I could sit tight and read Dickens' Pickwick Papers. Donno if I could it. To hell with information.

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[Vikatan]

When I had mailed Sujatha on his birthday, he replied with a news for me. He said there will be a series *ing Ganesh - Vasant, soon on Vikatan. Never knew it will be so soon. I do know he is writing Saagasam Aayiram in Kalki but couldn't read it since I don't have a kalki subscription.

Silvia which starts this week has Sujatha's popular duo, Ganesh and Vasanth. To add spice Sujatha brings back the same Mexico Salavaikaari joke even here and ofcourse as expected he hasn't revelead it yet. Read the extract.

Recently, Sujatha hasn't been writing too much fiction. Infact even the recent series, Irandavathu Kaathal Kathai wasn't close to Sujatha's standard. With Silvia, I'm sure he will have enough surprises and suvarasiyam.

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[Source - Aaramthinai]

Aaramthinnai has an interesting interview with writer Indira Parthasarathy. In more than two parts, Part 1 and Part 2. The concluding part is expected to be available in a day or two.

Indira Parthasarathy notes about the controversy surrounding his play on Ramanujar. He explains why lowbrows never bothered about the play when it was published as a book and why they created a chaos when it was staged.

Update - Concluding part of the interview with Prof. IP

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All the texts say that in order to gain release one should render the mind quiescent; therefore their conclusive teaching is that the mind should be rendered quiescent; once this has been understood there is no need for endless reading.

In order to quieten the mind one has only to inquire within oneself what one’s Self is; how could this search be done in books? One should know one’s Self with one’s own eye of wisdom. The Self is within the five sheaths; but books are outside them. Since the Self has to be inquired into by discarding the five sheaths, it is futile to search for it in books. There will come a time when one will have to forget all that one has learned.

- a dude named Ramana.

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[Click to enlarge]

This is my most favorite photograph of Writer Sujatha. This picture originally appeared on one of his books, Puthiya Pakkangal published by Kumari Pathippagam. I actually re-shot this from the book using a digicam.

Puthiya Pakkangal was published in '93. So this must have been clicked atleast 15-16 years back when Sujatha was still sporting a moustache and picking up grey hairs. Though he wasn't exactly from the middle class even then, this picture somehow profiles a middle-aged, middle class Indian with sharp features. The striped shirt adding to the middle class working man's look.

Simply curious to know if he was actually posing for the flick. Or it could be clicked while he was still thinking how to complete next week's thodarkathai. Photographer isn't credited in the book but he surely did a good job with this photograph. I wish this will be used as the official photograph.

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[Image & Text Source - Kumudam]

How much ever we know about our favorite author, we are never contented with the available information. We always would like to know that extra personal story or scoop of him/her. His favorite books, favorite authors, his childhood, his inspirations and the origin of the creativity that amazes us through his writings. More and more. That's one I reason, I'm very excited, writing this post.

This fortnight's Kumudam Snehidhi has a special interview with Sujatha . Not Mr. Sujatha Rangarajan but the actual Sujatha in his name, his wife. After reading it, one couldn't avoid a feeling that they just had a direct one-on-one chat with Lady Sujatha. She seems to be extremely modest and out-spoken. Who else other than his wife can talk more of this super star of Tamil book industry. Having been around him for 43 years, lady Sujatha lists the best and not-so-best Rangarajan with atmost ease. Though she talks about how he spends money lavishly on books, she saves the best of him to the end of the interview.

Reading the interview was a revelation for me. Truly. Not just because Sujatha is one of my favorite but it subtly shows a peak into a writer's life. I for once thought it was only Charles Dickens who wrote and wrote and wrote spoiling his health and burning midnight oil. Though I'm not comparing Sujatha to Dickens[else the puritans would jump on me fiercely], Sujatha has unconsciously sacrificed a good amount of his life for writing. As lady sujatha says that he was so immersed in his own world of books that they weren't even intimate during the early stages of their mariage life. And after moving to BEL in Bangalore, Sujatha became so busy in his writing world that he wasn't able to spend time with his boys during their childhood.

On the flip side, she calls him a genius for the kind of self-taught he is. Especially in music. She says that Sujatha could play guitar and many musical instruments so well without having taken training for them.

Do take time to read this rather lengthy and interesting interview. You would need a UID/Pass to read Kumudam and its free on registration.

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[Source - Hindu]

Writer Indra Parthasarathy's radio interview to Stanford 90.1 FM radio show, It's Different, is available here[Part 1 and 2]. Via RKK.

I wish the interview was Tamil but this is certainly a rare interview. The interviewer has very important questions for I.Pa on his fiction and plays. I.Pa is very spontaneous and spirited as usual. BTW, I.Pa is here in Bay area for a drama workshop. He is also staging a play for Bay Area Tamil Mandram, Ramanuja.

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Through books. Not bucks.

Josh Kaufman's The Personal MBA. Neat Stuff. Via Seth ji.

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[Source - Asokamithran caricature by Ananthapadmanaban in Vikatan]

This is MY Blog.

Vote MY Site.

This is MY Photoblog.

Go here to read MY REVIEW.

Go there to read MY THOUGHTS on that book.

I've blogged about it, Go here to read MY POST.

It's a sheer brag. Though it sounded like a normal usage to me, I've moved from that thinking, some time back. When ? That's when I started reading Ashokamitran. Atleast three years back. To quote[not verbatim] Ashokamitran, To say something as my creation or my writing seems very egotistic and very violent. Violent ? While reading this sentence, I paused there for a moement, trying to make sense of what he said. Honestly, I've always felt bad when stars and writers and celebrities brag egotistically about themselves. When someone could define this brag as being violent, it stayed with me, deep within. I began to consciously avoid the such I - My brags. Even during pressing situations, I've tried and minimize it.

There' a way to avoid such bragging posts. Lets say, there is this review that I penned on Shankar's Sivaji and it got published in Hindu. How would I say that on the blog ? The usual way - I wrote a review on MY blog here and that got re-printed in Hindu. The Ashokamitran way - The review which was posted here was also published in Hindu here. The 'I' and the 'My' could be avoided and you would be humble in saying that. Personally, I have to say it has changed the way I look at things. I have to be stop here abruptly as this is not a self-development blog.

The reason to brag(!!) about this here is certainly not to detail on this quality of mine. It's about Ashokamitran. His writings are far superior and much simpler than many Tamil writers. There are no word plays, no confusing language and no beating around the bush. His writing is so simple that even a long time Tamil literary reader would doubt if there is anything special about his writings. That's his speciality. Such simplistic usage of language is also evident in Ashokamitran's columns.

His protagonists aren't heroes. They are common people like you and me. They don't even stand out because they are common. Just common-common. To explain this better, let's take another favorite writer, Sujatha. If Sujatha writes about a common man, by his genius descriptions, the common man loses his commonality and becomes special. Not with Ashokamitran. The common man from Ashokamitran's pen is just common and there is nothing to much to describe his commonness. Nor he writes about some great hero from the history books. His characters live in this world and all that Ashokamitran does is to describe them with simple words and place them in a situation. This situation is never as critical as the kalinga war. Its just another common situation like drinking water or going to a movie. That's where Ashokamitran pauses to throw light on this incident. He shows us the minds and the hearts and the lives of the people from such trivial situations. The result, truly astonishing and over-powering. He has touched the grey areas of the middle class lives that no one else has ever thought to write about. Ashokamitran is not to be confused with Aathavan who is on a slightly different league. Ashokamitran's protagonists are usually the helpless and cowardish middle class. Imagine Kamal in Mahanadhi, who hopelessly losses his kids in the river of life. Think about Raj Kiran in Thavamai Thavamirindhu who is blinks dispiritedly for being unable buy new clothes for his kids on the Diwali eve. These are some of ideal backdrops in Ashokamitran's shortstories.

Ashokamitran till date hasn't had a magnum opus. Cause there can never a magnum opus for a simplistic writer like him. Even the most popular ones like Thanner and Pathinetavathu Atchakkodu are written for being common novels and not an epic.

Ashokamitran is such a funny speaker that he would come to stage as the last person and win over the bored crowd. The last time, I got a chance to meet Ashokamithran was during Uyirmmai Publishers' function. He spoke in a hearty manner about trying to rope 500 copies of Kanaiyazhi together and posting it across the nation. Even during the Ashokamitran 50 function, he was very humorous. You could listen to that recording on Badri's blog.

If you are starter in Tamil literature start with Ashokamitran for you will come back a full circle to Ashokamitran. This writer's writer has something for all of us to learn and imbibe. Being simple.

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[Pics - Theeranadhi]

How much ever I dislike to talk about the petty issues surrounding the Tamil literature circles, Kutti Revathi's interview to Kumudam's Theeranadhi was more meaningful than just throwing duppatas. This interview is a must read if you understand what the paragraph below is trying to convey.

I completely agree with these statements made on the state of tamil literary reviews. Especially the last 4 lines draws a vivid picture. And before you start reading the complete interview, I have to say this, What's said here is also applicable to Indian Blogosphere.

P.S - Just in case you login to Theeranadhi to read the interview don't miss, Kamala Pudumaipithan's re-collection of pudumaipithan days.

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I've been constantly asking friends to buy tamil literature books that I couldn't get here in the US and they have been sending them in regular instalments. Now I seem to have books for more than a year's worth of reading as I'm still waiting for to the next set to arrive.

Last week, some more books from Chennai, arrived. And I was waiting to get my hands all over them. This set includes this year's most talked about books in The Chennai Book Fair 2006. The most expected was Aathavan's Shortstory Collection with which I now own all of Aathavan's works published recently. I know I've been rambling about Aathavan for sometime now and that's because of a simple reason, thamizh kurum nallulagam has missed a great writer and given him to the floods. I have just started to read this one but I've to say Kizhakku Pathippagam has done a noble job of compiling the aathavan's shortstories to feed his hungry fans. Indra Parthasarathy's foreword where he talks about his student Aathavan, clearly details the sorrow of missing a great writer.

Aathavan had a unique style which I couldn't compare to anyone before or even after him. I have this feeling that no one, literally no one details the middle class urban life as we see and live it. Sujatha to a large extent came closer to this. However, some of his urban stories moved away from the middle-class life that some(!!) of us lived. They moved away into a fantasy world which makes you earn for a middle-class life like that. Sample, the scene where Arvind Swamy smokes before his mom in Roja. Didn't most(!!) of us think, what a cool idea it is to have a mom like that ? Whether its morally/physically wrong or right, didn't we feel that the conversation they had in that scene, however exaggerated it seemed, was so damn cool. That's Sujatha. Aathavan was a little different. He wrote and wrote about the urban family life and he wrote it just like that. Just like that. The exaggerations were minimal. In this arena, we don't have a author in Tamil, parallel to Aathavan.

In Chennai Book Fair 2005, when I was in Kizhakku Pathipagam stall, a co-blogger introduced me to a gentleman, Era Murukan. While I knew nothing about him, to my surprise, he knew about Lazy Geek and spoke in length about Tamil writings. He said he worked for a software company and was extremely humble. As a foot note, he also mentioned that he wrote a book which was published by Kizhakku Pathipaggam. Though I believed it, the writers whom I've met before was nothing like him. He wasn't dressed in a Veshti/Jibba and didn't have a jolna bag like me. I moved on after talking to him. Now when I read his Moondru Viral, I wish I read this book a year back. Amazing details and vivid descriptions. Will complete the book and will certainly put up a post on this book.

Alpha is also one of the books that came along in this set. I am still awaiting to get Sujatha's Collection Of Plays and Sujatha Kaelvi Pathil Part 1 and 2. Though I've read most, infact all, of Sujatha's plays, this one will be in my collection. Sujatha virtually wrote all his plays only for Poornam Vishwanathan. Though Sujatha's plays are unknown to the outside world, his play named Dr. Narendiranin Vinotha Vazhakku (The Weird Case Of Dr. Narendran) is a class apart. If only theatres groups like EVAM could play such unique plays, the world outside Chennai would discover a playwright in Sujatha.

A zillion thanks to Ramki for getting these books straight from the publishers.

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The girl sitting opposite to me was reading a book. This was in the bus, during my morning commute to office. The book looked like a pulp fiction paperback. As the bus approached Downtown Seattle, she suddenly turned to last page of the book and continued reading from there. She was approximately in the middle of the book before took this wild jump to the last page.

She completed the last page, read the blurb in the back of the book and got down from the bus. Donno how much fun it was to do that ?

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One of the best column in Tamil print media, Writer Sujatha's Katrathum Petrathum in Ananda Vikatan, has stopped again. Sujatha has decided to take a break and continue it later. Katrathum Petrathum has had 3 three servings until now. All the three times, the column has appeared atleast 54 weeks before it ended. And every time, I couldn't wait for Sujatha to start it again.

This old man is a heap of intelligence, who at times is mistaken for being a pseudo intellectual. It's his immense popularity that make his contemporaries corner his writing as popular writing and not include him in the so called 'serious literature writing'. They don't get that popular writing is as much literature as a 'serious literature' attempt. Sometimes though he makes couple of superficial statements like this, his column has been a quintessential read. This 3rd serving of Katrathum Petrathum has been in action for over 90 weeks now.

In this final week of Katrathum Petrathum, Sujatha writes about the new year party hosted by Kamalhassan. The party is supposed to include Kollywood's Who's Who and many other top stars of Indian cinema. Thats when Kamal chose to discuss the Dasavatharam storyline by remarking to Sujatha, Bruce Arasuvoda Naaiya Konudaraan, Sir. And now people would go bonker bonks on guessing who would be Bruce and Arasu. I think, both are two of the 10 characters enacted by Kamal Hassan himself.

If not for such teasers of Kamal and Shankar flicks, Katrathum Petrathum had in itself a gamut of topics from Sci-Fi, Haiku, Tamil books/writers, Contemporary Literature and the most famous Best of Year columns. It had become a sort of weekly dose of all the topics I would love to read. And a habit of reading it, similar to drinking filter coffee, couldn't be stopped so easily. More than other weekly columns it had a tinge cynical humor that makes you relate to every single issue, so easily. Until such time, when Sujatha prefers to start it again, we will wait. Rather I would.

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[From Badri]

It's that time of the year, when I'm repent for not being present in Chennai. Chennai Book Fair 2006 is happening from 6th to 16th of Jan. This is the 2nd time in the last two decades when I got to miss the Chennai Book Fair. Ramblings apart, the last few years have witnessed a phenomenal increase in the sales of books in the Chennai Book Fair and I'm expecting that probably very soon, Chennai Book Fair would turn out to be the Khumb Mela of books in India. Ofcourse, the book fair certainly needs more english books to reach there.

Uyirmmai Publishers are staging two gala shows on account fo this book fair. 10 books of Sujatha are being released on Jan 6th at the Sound Indian Chamber of Commerce. This includes 6 new releases and 4 re-prints. Desikan has compiled these books and has more information on his blog. Few interesting ones are the compilation of Sujatha's stageplays and Sujatha's mystery stories. Also their second function to be held on Jan 7th has some very interesting book releases including S. Ramakrishnan's Vizhithirupavanin Iravu and Jeyamohan's Aazhnathiyai Thedi.

Badri Seshadri's Kizhakku Pathipagam has a special blog for Chennai Book Fair 2006. Kizhakku Pathipagama is releasing Aathavan Sirukathaikal by Aathavan. This is one book that I'm personally looking forward. Being a huge fan of Aathavan and his amazing literary works, I'm expecting to get my hands on this book ASAP. I think this is probably the first compilation of Aathavan's shortstories, ever.

If you are in and around Chennai, do drop in. For you may not get this oppurtunity ever. Dear friend, please get ready to recieve an email with some 30 odd book names that I want you to buy and send across.

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Steve Rubel leisurely wrote a step-by-step hack to read some of O'Reilly's book at Google Books.

Finally Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch had to interfere and comment that all he discovered wasn't hack at all and its just how Google Books and O'Reilly Publishers wanted the book to be available.

Been following these blogs for a long time now and Steve's blog was specially very informative with some fabulous pointers. It was in bad taste to write a step-by-step hack. Especially Rubel has been pointing out to people who are plagiarising his blog and now he has steps to hack a Google site. That sounded pretty childish.

Another reason, I wasn't comfortable with that post was that, people who had no idea about Google Books are waging a virtual war against Google for making the offline world accessible to the online world. While Google is trying to fight out these wars, security holes and such hacks would only increase the dis-belief on the whole venture. And I think a noble cause has to be atleast left alone if not encouraging it.

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Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene.

John Battelle's The Search - How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture

Notes from the Underground : The Most Outrageous Stories from the Alternative Press.

Las Vegas for Dummies.

Currently reading these offline. Online....Phew !! It's information overload.

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Pradeep Sebastian writes in his column End Paper about re-readings of a book and what maketh a book lover.

I HAVE always thought a true book lover is one who rereads. To know one book well than to know many peripherally. It can take the form of revisiting a favourite book or just rereading a favourite passage.

When people make train journeys I've noticed they seem to prefer taking along a book they've already read. Like a known companion. Increasingly, it seems to me that what a committed reader has with a book is a relationship. And that it's like most relationships sustaining, volatile, vulnerable.

The question is does the book remain the same book the second time around? Are we even the same readers when we revisit these books? I am sure many of you have marvelled at how the same book expands before you, surprising and humbling you with how much you missed seeing on the first reading.

Wise words. The same could be applied to movies as well. Just wanted to add, if I watch all the movies that release, I am not a good movie lover.

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Sujatha in the preface of Eppothum Penn says that much of what he wrote about women in this book was by reading Simone De Beauvoir's The Second Sex. De Beauvoir's famous book deals in depth about the women from biology to history and civics of women. Not only it holds you spellbound but also it's insights are straight from a woman herself. De Beauvoir details with sheer skill as to how a woman isn't born but she is made.

If you fit the analogy of a woman as described by De Beauvoir into a tamil girl, what happens ? Sujatha's Eppothum Penn. This marvelously written book not only provide depths into the species called woman but also makes you live through the life of a woman as you read through it. Eppothum Penn was written as series for a women's monthly Mangayar Malar. And Sujatha accepts that there are continuity issues when writing a montly series. Still, the crux of the story remains intact and the pace is kept till the final full stop.

Eppothum Penn is one of Sujatha's finest novels. While there are other sensitive issues which Sujatha has dealt in his novels, Eppothum Penn represents the top of the them. The Woman. And whats so special about being a woman ? Nothing. Just about Nothing. But if you follow the life of Chinnu from the time she gets formed in her mother's womb, you would agree with Sujatha as to why a woman is a little bit of magic. EP has one of the devastating continuity issues unlike many other Sujatha's novels. The growth of Chinnu from being a kid to a thavani clad girl is pretty fast paced. And if you are the one to finish the book in a single breath, this is one book that needs such a treatment.

From a unbelivably voyeuristic start to the absolute ending this book will make you sit up and re-think all your notions about a woman. And even if you are those cold-hearted types, you just couldn't resist the single drop of tear rolling down as Sujatha enables us through the mind of a woman. All this and more without hype and any unnecessary comparisons of a woman to the embodiment of shakti. Sujatha Rocks !!

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I write, as George Bernard Shaw said, for the same reason a cow gives milk: it is inside me, it is got to come out, and in a real sense I would die if I could not - Shashi Tharoor in The Hindu dt September 16, 2001.

One would think what an self-absorbed writer Shashi Tharoor would be with those lines comparing him to Bernard Shah or even thinking about him on the same lines as the bearded great. At least I was offended when I read this on the newspaper, back in 2001. What next ? I started to read his subsequent columns. Ever since, the only time I got a little bored was when Tharoor started delving into Mahabharata. I actually enjoyed reading his columns on a Sunday Hindu. It even led me to read his books Riot and The Great Indian Novel. By now, I'm absolutely sure that Shashi Tharoor is a gifted writer. Not only he writes lucidly but he also makes his point loud and clear. One could sense the sides he takes, even during the beginning of a column.

Bookless in Baghdad is Shashi Tharoor's latest book. Its a collection of essays primarily on literature and writers. And its arousing to read a writer's take on other writers. Not just that but also the political and social commentaries keep this book afresh. Though this book should have been clearly named anything other than Bookless in Baghdad, the book delivers all your would expect as a reader. Bookless in Baghdad is the name of a column which describes Tharoor's wandering in Baghdad. The title of the book is more of a sales pitch than a perfect title. So we can forgive the publishers for the want of more sales than an eternal title. Some of the selected columns have been written for Hindu. And this was the special book that I never disclosed but mentioned in a previous post.

The essay that moved me is the analogy of India in comparison to the epic Mahabharata. As mentioned earlier for someone like me who was bored by his lectures on Mahabharata, this was a cool take. Shashi Tharoor, to what I've read from his novels and columns, believes and makes you agree that the plurality of India is it's biggest strength. This is clearly reflected in this essay and makes one feel proud about the land he comes from. I am sure this is not cheap patriotism selling but a realistic analysis on India's strengths and of course it's weaknesses. If you are the type of dude who thinks India is loud and laughable, this is dedicated for your, departed soul.

In essays about books & writers, I just couldn't say how much I'm impressed with this man's prodigious talent. Even the first essay details books, childhood and his growing up with books. From Enid Blyton to Hardy Boys, Shashi Tharoor has grown up exactly the same way you, me or any middle-class Indian would grow. You would be instantly attached to this book just after this first essay. It certainly brought back my childhood memories and made me yearn for those read-like-crazy days. Thats probably one reason, I was feeling lost and rambling about not been able to read books as before.

Heck !! even if you are not a PG Wodehouse fan you would appreciate the heights of stardom PG enjoys in India. An essay centers around PG Wodehouse and his everlasting books. Not to mention the special interest of Shashi tharoor on PG Wodehouse. Shashi Tharoor seems to be a big fan of Salman Rusdhie and has been covering most of Rushdie's books and appearances whenever he gets leisure time. His essay on Salman's re-appearance after fatwa and the aftermath was just gossip to me. His tribute to RK Narayan was at its best. Even as a staunch hater(!!) of RKN, Tharoor writes about the loss of RKN and how the literary world would miss him. I didn't find myself at ease in this essay but I've to say its one's choice. Also I found Shashi Tharoor to make some fairly arguable arguments on the old man's writings.

Though I couldn't relate too much to the essay, or I should call it a boast, on St Stephen literary skills, I think it was one essay which Tharoor was wanting to get out for a long time. It was an attribute to his college and we can excuse that as a trade-off for his classy narration of Neruda's poems.

If you are an aspirin or aspiring writer/reader, start here for Shashi Tharoor. Not only you would chance on a guy so prodigious also you would harmonize that he possibly be one of the best writers from India, for a long time to come.

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Gita Hariharan is moved by Priyadarshini's bharathanatyam performance on Silappadikaram. Hence she writes about this Illangovaidgal epic. Silappadikaram is one of the five epics of tamil(name the other 4 ?) and is clearly a poetic masterpiece, considering the story, the characterization, the magical charm of tamil usuage(thera manna seppuva thudaiyen) and ofcourse the genius of Illangovadigal.

Though the column starts a rehash of the the epic, goes on the compare the practicality of the epic to derive storyline from the commoners and how it clearly stands out as a true epic just like Ramayana and Mahabharatha. This is a superbly written column, that reminds of how Kannagi was made into merely a goddess of chastity by the hypocrites. Mr. Illango would be upset now for his protagonist Kannagi is now used a weapon to wage political wars.

From the column, Another Epic, Another India -

The route of the Silappadikaram does not take us to the usual epic battlefield where power struggles are played out. It considers, instead, some other important businesses of life — not only trade and commerce, but also the practice of music and dance. A good life, a civilized life, is not just a matter of honour. It is also a matter of putting together several less exalted ingredients — from prosperous trade and good sewage in the city to excellence in the arts and harmony among different religious communities.

In contrast, Kannagi uses her just cause to strip herself, not of her clothes, but of something more radical — a part of her body that signifies nurturing womanhood. It is possible then to read Kannagi’s story as a striking down of a “patriarchal-ruled” city; it also reminds us of how a complex story can be reduced, in official memory, to a convenient label — the goddess of chastity.

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Someone named The Comic Project left a comment in this post and following the link to his project I was instantly surprised. Though what he does edges on piracy, being an avid comic fan then, now and forever, I was happy to recollect those comic days. With a comics on one hand, a kuchi ice from Dasaprakash on the other and the 'military' bag on my shoulders, I was lost in a different world, while reading/walking home from school.

The Comic Project scans every single page of many Indrajal Comics and publishes one story a post. So you could find Phantom, Mandrake or Bahadur uncovering a crime or spotting a criminal. If you are comic freak, you are sure to have fun.

The philosophy of The Comic Project reads this -

The objective of this project is not to pirate or steal. I grew up on these comics: Phantom, Mandrake, Bahadur: and reading them was so much fun. Yes!! Indrajal Comics!!! Although you will see a few non-indrajal titles, this blog is committed to bring you original Indrajal scans. DEDICATED TO A generation of children growing up on Harry Potter, Cartoon Network and television in general.

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[Image - Hindu]

Hindu writes on Tamil magazine's deepavali special issues. While the mention nearly all the good ones like Amuthasurabhi, Manjari and Kalai Magal, they missed out on Ananda Vikatan's special issue. AV's special issue is supposed to be a highlight of deepavali, those days and after 35 years, they are back again for the last 3 years. Is this what you call Selective Amnesia ?

Anyway, my copy of AV's deepavali special issue is currently in British Airways flight and I'm waiting to get my hands on it.

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The Hindu calls Shalimar the Clown as Salman Rusdhie's comeback book. Even as longtime favorite John Updike didn't nod his head too well in his review, I kept fingers crossed. Though one can't sure if thats true, until he reads the book for himself, its the kind of conscious bias towards Salman Rushdie that makes me think Updike was miserably wrong.

It seems to be a fad to build a story about intertwined lives. Rusdhie puts it as "everyone's story slipping into everyone else's story". Its on a long waiting queue at the library and until I could read, I'm fantasizing with these reviews.

From the The Hindu review -

Shalimar is vintage Rushdie, whose characters, even in their most absurd or dark moments, remain human.

Their behaviour may be cruel, condemnable and seemingly inexplicable but seldom beyond understanding. It is through their motivations that Rushdie explores what he described, in an interview, as the idea of the "worlds in collision" — the clash of "two alternative realities competing for the same time and space". Presumably, these alternative realities are love, tolerance, freedom and debate on the one hand, and hate, anger, intolerance, extremism and violence on the other.

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[Pic - Amazon

First Off, I haven't read this book. Infact, the book itself hasn't released yet. So you know this is no book review of The Physics of Superheroes.

I heard James Kakalios' interview on NPR and got instantly interested. Being a huge comics addict during my teens[except for archie and jughead], anything on comic heroes puts on the interests. Just like how The Unbreakable and Incredibles used super heroes to explore deeper into the human mind, seems like this book explains theories of phyiscs using super heroes and their nifty equipments/tricks.

Pretty Impressive way to explain physics. If only my physics madam[classy dressed with a bob cut hair] at school tried to teach physics this way, I would have been writing like James Kakalios by now. Anyway, I hope she still teaches how to experiment ohm's law in the lab. It would never work for me especially on the day of final examination at school. Physics, huh !!

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Shalimar The Clown is releasing only by September 6th of this year. But Rushdie is already on the roll. The 2005 Booker prize longlist, which was announced a couple of days back, has Salman Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown listed as one of the contenders. Ian McEwan is also in the list. Together with Rushdie, Ian will also be contending for booker, the second time. For Rushdie, the first time was with Midnight's Child - Saleem Sinai. For Ian McEwan, whom I knew only because of his booker prize, it was Amsterdam.

Rushdie's last two books seemed to be out of place. Especially The ground beneath her feet featuring the Bombay rock band, seemed to have a great start but wasn't convincing with all the extended romance. And I comfortably didn't read his next book, The Fury. More than the booker prize, I would be personally happy if Shalimar The Clown would be impressive.

P.S - Any one has a clue why SalmanRushdie.com is registered by some hosting company which does nothing with it.

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[Pic - Vikatan]

This week, S Ramakrishnan's Kathaavilaasam column in Ananda Vikatan features Sujatha. Kathaavilaasam isn't as interesting as his previous series, Thunaiezhuthu. One reason why I keep reading it despite the semi-boring narrative is that, Ramakrishnan explores the world of tamil authors and showcases an author's creation. Earlier the column featured Aathavan, Ashokamithran and few other favorites of mine. The column is a success, if only 50 people would have bought Aathvan's Enn Peyar Ramaseshan after reading Kathaavilaasam.

S.Ramkarishnan points out Sujatha's shortstory Nagaram which is considered to be one of his best. Anyone who has read Nagaram would agree that the ending left a guilt in their hearts.

Nagaram's premise has been modified and used in some sequences of Shankar's Indian. One, when Manorama goes to the government office to get her cobbler husband's pension. Two, when Kamalhassan and Sukanya take Kasturi with third degree burns to the hospital.

I just thought I should post, Writer Sujatha - Essential Reading. I had compiled a list earlier, for a friend and happily forgot to pass it on. Will dig it out and post it here sometime.

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By Latha

"Sir, Naan oru piravi kurudan, paarvai endraal ennavenre theriyadhu, neengal oru ezhuthaalar dhaane? Oru kelvikku badhil solkireergala. Varnam endraal enna? Enakku varniyungal, varnam enbadhu enna? "

Paarvai, a short story by Sujatha, written sometime in 1972, gives us a 'glimpse' of the blind's world and their 'view points'. A train journey, one (two?!) blind man. One groping in the dark and the other in brightness. Both trying to explain the seamless thoughts of their mind to the other. Sujatha, as usual, stands a class apart in his narration of this story, a sweet tinge of bitterness in the blind man's character and a non-grudging envy of a normal man towards the blind man. The little nuances and razor sharp functioning of the other sensory organs, except the eyes of the blind man is expressed with a touch of nonchalance, yet strikingly visible to the mind's eye.

When the blind man says "Ungalai 'sandhithadhil' mikka maghizchi", the writer observes "sandhithadhil... Kann therindha ulagathin vaarthai". The story leaves the reader with a feeling of incompleteness, a helplessness that a six-sense person feels when he is unable to explain something to a person who lacks one sense. Maybe Ashok Banker's Mahabharatha has answers. Ashok's odyssey of Mahabharatha starts with "As the blind king watched... ". Ironical, isn't it?

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I came back home even before the book was released. But it was all fun @ Barnes and Noble. Check out some pictures of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince book release party. Thanks to my mobile camera !!

Looks like the book is already out in UK. I have ordered the book from the library. Yeah, Harry Potter - Book One.

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Three months of wait before iCon Steve Jobs finally arrived from library. After the long wait for the book, when I had my hand on it, I lost interest in reading it. Just browsing through the book gives me a feeling that it's just a re-hash of The Second Coming of Steve Jobs. I'm yet to read it to confirm my assumption.

The other books that I am reading[reading, reading and reading] are Rushdie's Imaginary Homelands, Lavanya Sankaran's The Red Carpet : Bangalore Stories and Suketu Mehta's Maximum City : Bombay Lost and Found.

Offlate, more than fiction, I'm liking to read non-fiction though I hate to loose the kid in me. But non-fiction, especially by famous fiction writers is always amusing. Imaginary Homelands is collection of essays/criticism written by Rushdie during the 80's. The essays have a different tone compared to the celebrity writer tone, offlate. In the preface, Rushdie writes about how he managed to get writing jobs for small magazines and how he finally settled in 'writing-for-food'. The criticism on Attenborough's Gandhi was a riveting read. For once, I could say, the review of a movie was riveting. It sure was.

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[click for a bigger image]

I'm not in this race for I haven't read a single Harry Potter as of date. I have watched the movies but somehow I missed on reading Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings. Having a Barnes and Noble just across the street, and such enthusiasm picking -up, I'm becoming curious. I'm planning to stay until friday midnight in Barnes and Noble to enjoy the release party of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Will catch some crazy emotions during the release through my mobile camera. The picture above was shot using the mobile cam, so excuse the quality. BTW, I might buy the book too.

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For starters, there is a meme that's rolling in the Indian Blogosphere which intends to make bloggers list their acquaintance with books. It was Chenthil who tagged me. So here is my list.

Total Number of Books I Own : Must be close to 200. This excludes the book that I gave off to cousins at various points in time.

Last Book I Bought : I imported Collection of Sujatha's Shortstories Part II through a friend in India recently. Bought J D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye last week, for my personal collection.

Last Book I Read : Best American Shortstories 2004, Fred Moody's Seattle and the Demons of Ambition, Ashokamithran's Thaneer and Jumpha Lahiri's The Namesake. Actually I tend to read around 3-4 books at a time, being lazy !!. One before bed, one/two during commute, one in the bathroom. There are 30 books that I've booked in the library and I've no idea when I will read them.

Five Books That Mean a Lot to Me : I'm going against the meme. Who cares !!. I can't get just 5 books listed. No way.

In Tamil -

Sujatha's Nilla Nizhal. I read this during my teens and it made me fall in love with tamil fiction. Though this wasn't the first story of Sujatha that I read it was my breaking point. The protagonist Mukundan is partly me and partly you. While I read it today, I don't see why I loved this book so much but at that point, it reflected my teenage thinking towards various things in life. Include 24 Rubaai Theevu also in this category.

Sujatha's Shortstory Collection and Guru Prasadin Kadaisi Dhinam. Read them to agree with me. Guru Prasadin Kadaisi Dhinam is arguably Sujatha's best small-big story.

Aadhavan's Enn Peyar Ramaseshan. I only wished Aathavan lived to write more stories like this and enthrall us.

Kalki's Parthiban Kanavu. Though Ponniyin Selvan is also hugely inspiring, as you read Parthiban Kanavu, one could directly feel a virtual movie screen opening up before you. A perfect historical thriller. Kalki is probably the most inspiring writer after Bharathi.

Ashokamithran's Pathinettaavadhu Atchakkodu and Thaneer. Pathinettaavadhu Atchakkodu explains why Ashokamithran is Ashokamithran.

G Nagarajan's Naalai Matrumoru Naaley. An unknown classic.

In English -

Jean-Paul Sartre's Basic Writings and Nausea. A good friend of mine introduced me to Sartre. It was Krishna who first spoke about Existentialism and Karma in Bhagavat Gita. Then it was Sartre.

Dostoevsky's Demons. A Russian classic and often compared to the George Orwell's best.

R K Narayan's Swami and Friends. The simple yet classy style of writing of RK Narayan is something that many of us yearn for. It was with Swami and Friends, the world of Malgudi was uncovered to the world. An classic forerunner to Harry Potter and Hogwarts adventures.

George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman. The king of sarcasm with wits unlimited and philosophy topped.

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Made into a movie by Stanley Kubrick, Lolita was a true classic of it's times. I saw the movie first and then I went back to read the book. Unlike the general opinion, I liked the rather long, descriptive and romantic version of Nabokov's Lolita as a book than the movie. Thought the movie by itself was fun, in my personal opinion, the true work of Nabokov wasn't reflected in the movie.

Mark Twain's Tom of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Jules Verne's Passepartout of Around the World in Eighty Days and the Dickensian pathos of Oliver Twist had great impact in me during my early teens.

Tag five people and have them do this on their blogs:

Desikan, Kinglsey, Anand, Latha, Ragu and Ramesh.

Thought the last three don't have blogs and they are my offline friends, I will send this across to them on email to see if they can fill this up. Anyone who reads this and is interested, please pick it up.

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Sujatha replies to the previous blogpost on his Katrathum Petrathum article, in the comments section of the blogpost itself. Here.

dear friend
Rarely I answer blog references One of the greatest pleasures in wriring is perceptive readers like you are reading every line and its echo is loud and clear It was a general essay I wrote on turning seventy It had a global response The purpose is not to scare people about growing old and dying but to inspire a sense of urgency in whatever one wants to pursue in life and in its wake revise and simplify the targets
Sujatha
Posted by Sujatha at May 10, 2005 12:48 PM

Wow !! It made up my day. Thank a Ton.

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I know its a silly title to the post. But it has to be this way like Sujatha's last week's Katrathum Petrathum in Vikatan. Just as how Sujatha can easily describe toughest things with a sublime humor and practised ease. Sujatha in his weekly column, enunciates the issues of ageing and memory loss. More to it, without any pretence, he talks about the idea of death from the perspective of a rapidly ageing man. All this and more on the event of his 71th birthday. If you had missed the print edition, Desikan has published this Vikatan column, here.

Just like Desikan, it sent shockers to me. Not just me but many others who had commented about this in the previous post marking the Birthday of Sujatha. While describing memory loss, Sujatha describes about his evergreen memory with respect to nicest times of his life. His memory loss pertains to mostly petty things like, Who's the girl who acted alongwith Rajini in Padayappa ? or What would you call an Aandhai in English ?. Did you just say, Ramya Krishnan or Owl to yourself now. I did. Then you are testing your memory to see if you have any memory packet loss.

In Srirangathu Devadhaigal, when Sujatha describes the world of Srirangam and the minute details as he enjoyed in his childhood, I've wondered if he had an elephant's memory. The way he had recollected the pillars of Kamba Mandapam in the temple of Srirangam was immaculate. When I had been to Srirangam few years back, I went to the temple alone, in the wee hours of a calm day, to feel the pillars of Kamba mandapam and to relive the experience of Sujatha.

Now after a decade, when I read ageing brings acute memory loss to a your favorite writer whose memory you thought was robust, gives a selfish shock. The fact that you will also become soon like that. I've seen many old people reading the obituary columns as their first serving, in morning newspapers. I never knew it had an inner meaning as suggested by Sujatha. Above all this, Sujatha talks about Progressive Compromises. A term which anyone of us who has lived life can relate to. Probably its one of most abstract theories of life told in the most simple words.

Whatsoever, the column has all the fans and non-fans of Sujatha very upset. Many of them have left messages on Sujatha's posts that they pray for