Vaenum…Puthiya Theevu Theevu !!

Weekly walk-ins to the bookstore B & N, located right opposite to my residence is turning out to be a virtue. A virtue that would prevent you from information overload[provided you are reading this very blogpost]. If one would have noticed[ofcourse I don't expect someone to notice all this trivial stuff), the posts in this blog are getting lesser by the week there by saving nice people from being information overloaded. The more I get closer with books, the more I think of those days when I finished reading books even before the librarian grasped that I actually rented that book. And the more time I spend in bookstore, I am moving away from the blogosphere. I am getting more and more embarassed of writing and indulging in blogs than doing some quality reading. There is just about so much to read than to write a who's who of tamil cinema or how the seattle sun gets cross-linked to a kollywood potboiler flick which released a decade ago. I am starting to believe in this proverb(!!?). Whatever needs to be written has already been written. All the new stuff being written is just old wine in the new bottle. Yes, every single issue of Ananda Vikatan or New Yorker is full of re-written news and messages and thoughts and experiences.

The bookstore visit today pushed me to yet another extreme of deciding to stop gibberishly talking through blogs. Now that I'm writing this post announces that the obsessive compulsion to stop this digressive blog, hasn't gone beyond extremes, I may be unable to guarantee anymore. Or may be ?

Confused ? Me too. It's this confusion that keeps me coming back to write and read the blogs. Its also this same indeterminacy that keeps me asking the question, Are blogs just protocols of information overload ? And I'm turning psychically averse to the word Information Overload [This link itself is ironically a nice sample of information overload. After all who wants to read an entire page of wikipedia when the word is directly understandable]. With around 200 blogs bookmarked in bloglines and Google Reader, reading them everyday is becoming mundane. Not that the quality of writing has gone to dogs. The Indian blogosphere is getting better by the day but wider by the hour. And its tough to keep track of. Also, if you think I’m a classic case of blog burn-out. I’m not. I am not yet there.

I love the web. Just like anyone normal geek, I am intensely in love with the web[this is also known as tool lust] and how web has become the quintessential part of everyday life. Still, I want to relax with a dose of crosswords/ coffee / books while listening to Joe Satriani or Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. I know I’m turning to be a too-much dreamer but then when will that day come, when I would wake up and read the daily newspaper without switching on the PC and checking the blog. I dream.

Its been raining in Seattle for the last three months. And everyday, yeah every single day, it would rain during my morning commute. I drive briefly to a park & ride, where I take the bus to Downtown Seattle. That’s when I usually listen to NPR. I wasn’t listening, today.

After a brief peek, last tuesday, the sun god finally came out yesterday. And it was a day when the whole of Seattle chose to lock themselves inside their houses and hope for the victory of hawks. They didn’t. But the sun came out. And it’s joyful news. Coming here from the water-’less’ area like Chennai, I enjoyed the rain. But then just after six months, I started to appreciate the sun.

So today with the sun beaming across my face through the car window, I chose to listen to Rahman’s music. Hello Doctor from Kadhal Desam. It was like gulping a full pack of Full Throttle. Such excitement.

I have a special softcorner for Kadhal Desam. Donno if I had mentioned it here but the reasons are numerous. While KD was being shot, I visited the mahabalipuram sets of Kadhal Desam and hence I could always relate to it. Though sets were just made of savukku kattais with the face of modern architecture, it was a cool attempt in kollywood. Rahman’s songs were a big plus. Infact the biggest. Without Ennai Kaanavillaye or Mustafa Mustafa the movie wouldn’t have hit the box-office, even for the first few weeks. And yeah, we bunked our second day in college to watch Kadhal Desam (for the third time!!) at Devi. It was gang of 20+ kids entering college and bunking the second day to run around the theatre in a train-like fashion, during the songs.

Above all I knew tons of college mates, imagining themselves as Vineeth and Abbas, trying to walk behind the girls just like that Ennai Kanavillaye song. One friend would tell me, Machan, naama onnum abbas mathiri periya persnalty illa da. Athanaala ippdikaa orama olinchu, ennai kaanavillaye paattula vara vinneth mathiri, namma figurea paapom. There is this other lot of guys with the so-called figure madikara personality who usually rode samurais and splendors, who carried a helmet with flashy colors and a question mark sticker on their helmet windshields. They usually said they got the figures. None could confirm that however. There is also the other set of ‘counter-culture’ boys who bunked all the lectures and sat in the cricket ground beneath a puliya maram to start a club called puliya maram priends kilub. These dudes get to the listen to the color color stories of both the other groups and finally be the naataamai. FYI, they only smoked filter kings and the guy coming with an issue should buy a single tea and filter kings for the others. Infact most times he lighted the cigarette to the counter-culture thalai. Sounds like Godfather ? But its true.

Me. I belonged somewhere in-between all of the them, spending time in ground, class, library and ofcourse theatre. If the counter-culture guys needed some time pass, they sent a guy searching for me and they would tell, dei namma paruppa isthukinnu vaa. And they were always happy to have me in the gang briefly for they were so excited about the stories I told. Like a first time director telling his proposed story to a producer, I would tell stories with vivid descriptions and some exaggerated facial expressions. From Aandipatti to Amsterdam, the stories opened and closed all around the world, with turning points in the right places. And I told them that I would shoot this particular story as a magnum opus and the other sci-fiction, which I kathachufied the previous day would be my third film. Kamal to Rajini to Nasser and sometimes even SPB became many characters of my stories and these CC[counter culture] guys believed I would really strike chord with films someday. Huh !!

The reason I say this is because Kadhal Desam reflected the everyday college. Though it had its own set of kollywood exaggerations, it was much closer to my college days. And no movie after Kadhal Desam, not even Thulluvatho Ellamai or Kathal Konden or even Yuva come closer to real college scene. Sightu, Fightu, Figure, NIIT, Internetu, Footboard, Sutta Pazham, Single Chayya, Con-donation pees, British Council Library, Hero Puch, Bachelor and Arrears aka Cupu. Some keywords, lotsa memories. What days!!. I am saying this here again but I wish to click my life backwards. I would wish to re-live my college days again. Again.

I love Milk Bikis. Yeah, It sounds like a naive statement but I love eating Milk Bikis. Ask my family and they would sing my childhood adventures with Milk Bikis.

This post isn’t a Milk Bikis reminiscent. This is a much serious(!!) observation that I had over a period of time. Has anyone noted this or is it just me. I find South Indians going crazy over Brittania’s Milk Bikis while the northies love Parle-G. Donno if it’s just due to the logistics issue of the goods or has it something got to do with the taste.

Not that I don’t like Parle-G. Its actually tastier than Milk Bikis when I don’t get to eat Milk Bikis. Sitting in Seattle, the only option is to eat the mini Parle-G [sold 4 packs/dollar].

And yeah I love biscuits. The critics of this blog [who term this as the Worst Popular Indian Blog] can now go and call this as the Blog of a Koyindey Payyan. Infact I should be thankful for that written word for after all namma ellam etcetera thaaney, maamu !!.

[Image - Acharya]

Just another new year wish.

These are a series of ramblings on Marghazhi month. May not be all that interesting as these are personal posts. Just wanted to register interesting and funny stuff about childhood in chennai. These were one of the prime intentions when starting the blog. Along the way, I drifted elsewhere and now I’m trying hard to get back the original groove.

Let’s start from Ven Pongal. During the month of Marghazhi[15th Dec - 14th Jan], when you rush to a perumaal koil in the wee hours of morning, you get two things. Apart from sighting aathi pinnal girls, you get handful of suda suda ven pongal and spirituality to the heart’s content. Perumal Koil pongal is much better than Ghee Pongal[Rs.13.95] in Saravana Bhavan. But those days when I went to the seenivaasa perumal koil along with my mom at 5:30 in the morning, I knew nothing about Saravana Bhanvan or Naachiyaar Thirumozhi. All I knew was that my mom, quietly made a big kolam and went to koil in the early morning of marghazhi month. When she came back, I was still brushing my teeth, thinking about the boring social studies homework given, the previous day. She came back with a dhonnai full of steaming hot ven pongal. So after brushing my teeth, I got to eat the pongal even before my coffee. There was something special about the pongal and hence decided to hitchhike my mom during her kaarthala koil trips.

I landed in perumaal koil, after bath, sharp by 5:40 am. Along the way to the temple, women keptdrawing, what is called as Theruvadaichaan, a maavu kolam that spread the breath of their respective lanes. In the koil, they recited a sloka and mom would recite alongwith them. With atleast 50 people, reciting the same sloka(I thought) at the same time, I had goose bumps for no reason. After sevichu’fying perumaal and thaayaar, a queue(?!) gets formed for the highlight. As you proceed along the queue, one maama stuffs a dhonnai in the hand. The other bhattachari, has a huge karandi in his hand. He scoops a mountain of the ven pongal from the andaa and filled the donnai. I always get this itching feeling that the bhatachari gave me less pongal than whoever stood before me. Anyway, the minute I get my donnai filled with ven pongal, I would go to the main pragaaram of the temple and eat pongal to my heart’s content. My mom gets her share also to me. Now that I’m done with both the donnais of pongal, I head back home and sleep again by 6:15 am.

Till this day, Marghazhi reminds me of Ven Pongal even before Thiruppavai. Thiruppavai ?

Aries March 21 – April 19
Daily Overview for December 08, 2005
Provided by Astrology.com Daily Extended Forecast

Quickie:
Watch your frustration level today. Inconsiderate people will test your patience.

Overview:
It’s time for you to put an end to whatever you’ve been beating yourself up about. It’s over, it’s done, it wasn’t a deliberate or malicious act, and you know it. Give yourself a break.

Was running anti-spy on yahoo tool bar and was accidentally taken to My Yahoo. Thats where I read the my sun sign astrology today, as given above. Donno what it means except someone is forcing me to take a break.

BTW, am not a jerk on astrology. I certainly believe(after all my experiences with astrologers of chennai, for my friends), astrologers are grossly wrong but astrology is right.

Yet another deepavali-less year passes by. Have fun this dhoni deepavali.

P.S – Called home to wish and the only sound I heard was the cracker ‘music‘.

Warning – This post may not have any sense of direction. I’m just wanting to pour out a few things and hence may sound like a rant. You might want to stop reading here. I’m positive. You’re not missing anything.

Once upon a time, I was thinking the only joy in the world was reading. Slowly movies started octopusing my life. Reading was a joy even then. Now, there are just too many interests and as one quote goes, “It’s only the human who complicates his own life”.

While there is so much to read, I’m starting to feel embarassed when I realize, that I’m typing more than what I read. As Internet expands, the information overload increases and you don’t feel at ease when don’t catch up with the online world even for a day. For that matter, Ignorance is the biggest bliss. Earnestly, I’m trying to get back to the world of books without any interupption to my love of online world. I’m trying to pay equal attention but it sucks. With a lovely, confronting techie job in the day and the few hours that I get to surf the web in the night, my reads have reduced to a unit of tenth. The pile of books that I want to read but haven’t, keep increasing. Especially reading fiction has reduced to zero and I think I’ve lost the innocence to read fiction. For someone who had tried to read as many Wodehouse or Chase as possible, sitting through even Da Vinci Code seems tough now. Though Da Vinci Code follows some of the tried-n-tested methods of thriller fiction, I felt there was nothing big that was going to happen. That zest to complete it wasn’t quite there.

As the blog world is fights a worthy war, here is me fighting a different war to shut myself and read a book in a strech. Let’s see, if I can do that. Will update more , but for now, back to books.

They are not allowing me to stop ranting on this subject. Just when I was about to close the Fox on Fire[FireFox..hee hee] and catch some sleep, I see this link on Sri Hari’s movie lane and that’s enough to blow my sleep.

The last sin they commited was to give Page 3 a national award and now they are selection a bunch of sloppy movies to go to the Oscars. I have been shouting lonely here, here and here on the comedy of sending Indian films to Oscars and to baffle me they have considered nominating films like Anniyan and Sachein. Probably someone’s making a mock of Oscar nominations from India.

First of all I don’t agree with this joke and even in the wildest of my dreams, if I agree, Swades and Black are two good contenders for the nomination. I know Amol Palekar as a great actor but haven’t watched any of his films including Paheli so gub-chup.

Anway for all of you to enjoy, I have selected text from the reviews of Sachein and Anniyan. You could relax on your seat and take a trip back to these movies !!

Sachein was horrendous. When the movie was announced, from the posters, I sensed that it was a going to be a 3 hour long advertisement like Minsara Kanavu. It ended up just as expected and was also hugely non-interesting. Yet another good example of how a movie can bore you to the core because of bad/no screenplay.

Sometimes tributes end up as screw-ups. Though being inspired and inspired again by his movies, Shankar fails poorly to display his tact in handling social subjects with proficient ease. Anniyan ends up being a bad exercise in execution and is undoubtedly a defective tribute to his own classics. I was sold even during the first 15 minutes of the movie. After that, just like a bad one day cricket match, the movie treads into an unrealistic path with a face mask of realism, only to bore you and me to the core.

Comedy Time-pa !!

Even as I am contemplating to include myself in the workaholics list, I hate Sundays. The only reason is that they have a following Monday, week after week. And that’s pretty irritating.

“Etho oru sunday, naamalum lungiya madichhu kattikittu, samachiduvom. Athu Nallavum vandudum. Athukaaga…” says Arjun in Muthalvan. That’s exactly what I did yesterday.

Armed with lungi/kathrikka and tons of ‘experience’, I logged into the kitchen with the idea of cooking some exotic meals. A few hours later….. I was running for a glass of water, hot spicy saambar.

If jeans was the only trouser type available, I would be happy as hell. Like most of us, I love the jean clinging onto the legs and make you feel much younger than you actually are. Especially the original dark blue denim color like the one Rahman wears in Vande Matharam is my favorite.

It’s a great feeling to enter a new jean, straight from the store, with the labels still untouched. If only it’s fits you as though it was handwoven for you, like the Ray Ban on Kamal’s nose in Kurudhi Punal, WOW. Who wouldn’t love a perfect fit ?

P.S – Honestly, I wrote this non-stop with a stream of conciousness and couldn’t avoid those filmy mentions. Heck !!

Someone with a smiling face approached me at a grocery store when I was busily hunting for a three way lamp. It was a desi. That was unusual. For a desi to smile at you in US, it should comply with these rules, either he knows you or he needs something done by you. I don’t know him. My 7 to the power 12th sense alerted me.

“Hey howyodo?”, says he.
“Doing good, You ?”, reading seriously the carton of GE’s three-way lamp.
“So you work here ?”
“You mean this grocery store, No !!”. I thought he believed me to a cart push-boy there.
“That was funny…. I meant in Seattle”, says he with an instant laugh.
“Yeah”, answering and reading the same lamp carton again. Get lost, dude.
“Want to work on free time ?. I’ve got couple-a guys workin on part-time for me “.
I took three bulbs and said,”My hands are already full, like this”. Was curious on what area where those couple-a guys were working.
He continues without listening, “Its an e-commerce business that they are working on. Good Money”.
I googled my brain and sensed what he was upto. Asked,”And whats it called ?”
He said,”It’s called q……………”

I know. I know I know. Vudu Joot. BTW, goto pickup those three-way lamps tomorrow.

P:S – It’s only after this post, I realized I am so bad at writing direct speech. Punctuation sucks big time. Dialogue writing is a great art and not my cup of tea, atleast now. But don’t worry Mani Ratnam, I can improve ;-)