Crude and Cheesy post ahead.

I get the internet democracy and all but reading everyone’s opinion on the new social networking overload seems like a complete waste of time. I know one wants to try everything thats new and free on the net but one doesn’t have to always start acting like a tech guru on each .x version release of a software.

Let me ask a question. When was the last time, you picked a piece of log aka dead wood book and read it start to finish including the blurb. I know you have Brown’s The Last Symbol hidden under your pillow for two weeks now. That paperback copy of Twlight saga is lying on your bookshelf for twelve days and 24 minutes and 16.5 seconds now. The first edition copy of recently passed away Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye is crying to be read for months now. The recently bought Agam Puram Anthapuram is enjoying some good shelf life in your bedroom. Last week’s Vikatan and India Today are folded and left unread on the couch. It doesnt matter that you dont like to read literary works of Jorge Luis Borges or Pablo Neruda. You like to read just ‘normal’ books. I get that. But when will you read them?

When can you actually close the browser, shut down your laptop and actually read the first page of Seth Godin’s latest best seller? When will you be free of not having to login to the social .coms, miss all the carefully created online personas’ effing status updates and not be nervous about it? Its not important to just have a shelf full of carefully selected coffee table books. To read without any interupptions is an act of freedom in the contemporary society. How about today ? Say yes to the Log. Now, Logout. Thanks.

This was just brilliant. Dramatic and mythological in its narration and very east in its philosophy. I’m too tempted to lend my piece of detailing but will hold-off because of the lack of words that I can use to describe my daemon/genius. It may sound cocky to say that but inevitably we have all experienced this moment atleast once. My daemon/genius could very well be a lame one neverthless it exists, not in the form that Liz explained but differently. I tend to call it the self but sure, genius works as well.

If you haven’t, you should, atleast skim through the second 36 chapters of Liz’s Eat, Pray, Love which I thought was very well written despite the cheesiness in the title and the feminism that people thought existed in this book.

It’s been incubating for 25 years but Stephen King is finally ready to show the world the 1,000-plus page epic he first attempted writing in the 1980s. Under the Dome, in which an invisible force field seals off a Maine town from the world, is due to be published this November, his publishers have said.

Weighing in at a whopping 1,120 pages, Under the Dome is a return for the bestselling author to the arm-breaking heft of his classic novels The Stand and It. King told an audience at the Library of Congress in Washington DC last year that he’d first had the idea for the book 25 years ago, and made a stab at writing it. “I tried this once before when I was a lot younger, but the project was just too big for me and I let it go, I let it slide,” he said. “But it was a terrific idea and it never entirely left my mind. It just kinda stayed there and hung out, and every now and then it would say write me, and eventually I did.”

I probably wouldn’t complete it but I’m sure going to attempt reading it. Afterall it is 25 years in the making plus there is no one else in literary world who can compete with Stephen King in his area of expertise.

John Updike, a Lyrical Writer of the Middle-Class Man, Dies at 76. If you haven’t read Rabbit, Run yet, you should.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

* 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.

[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.

[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

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.

[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.