Living the life

Its a pity that I haven't blogged about things in a long while. Isolation doesn't seem to help, with anything.

***

In recent years, I have read few biographies. I enjoyed Steve Jobs' biography by Walter Isaacson and the auto-biographies of Stephen Hawkins and Vinod Mehta.

Few weeks back, I started reading Abraham Lincoln's biography by Ronald C White. There are quite a number of authors who have written biographies of Lincoln. I chose this one based on a recommendation. But I'm not finding this version very interesting.

A chronicle of events in Lincoln's life is not as interesting as knowing more about Lincoln, the person. I wish he had a written his autobiography. The contemplative, storing telling Lincoln portrayed in Spielberg's movie was the one I was looking for.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Or so Lincoln apparently said. Power perhaps could be replaced with Responsibility for the common folk. Having been in a position to withstand adversity and bear responsibility, in the past year or so, I didn't find the former any easier. Lincoln himself withstood quite a few adversity. But not sure, if there is direct account from him, on how he managed to do that.

***

I don't have much to say on withstanding adversity or bearing responsibility myself. I don't think I managed either well. But if I have to offer a strategy, it'll be to trust one's instincts. Its possible that when under siege (not stress) our perspective is reduced to the most important things and hence our instincts more useful. Even otherwise, following one's instinct helps deal with regrets later.

Another useful strategy, surprisingly, I remember from a movie by Kamal Hassan. In Virumaandi, the character played by him will say something to the effect.

We don't seem to realize happiness, when we actually live it.

This is ofcourse looking back, when things have turned worse. It might be a good strategy to do more, say splurge, during moments of happiness and make it more memorable. Because, such moments may not come back and in hindsight, we may regret not enjoying those moments to the full.

***

Not sure, if I'll complete this biography of Lincoln. I hope to read more though and perhaps write more here too.

Talaash

Its been a while since I wrote a film review. I used to review often in my Tamil blog 'Kuppai Valai' and once moderated a film review group blog Thirai Vimarsanam.

Please do not read any further if you haven't watched Talaash yet (its very good, you should watch it).

I think one of the traits of a good reviewer is to be dispassionate about the story and judge the movie based on what the film makers wanted to do and see if they have succeeded. But there are times when a director takes on a project so ambitious, no amount of explaining the screenplay can make up for poor execution. Exhibit A: Dasavatharam movie.

In Talaash, the film makers have succeeded in what they wanted to do. People expect Aamir Khan and the brilliant Akhtars to distinguish themselves from the crowd and they have done so again. Props also to the director Reema Kagti for daring to treat the audience as adults.

Talaash is a suspense investigation movie on the lines of Sherlock Holmes and the recently well received Kahaani. The director's job here is to subtly narrate two versions of the same story, the 'truer' version of which unravels at the end. And with the additional information, the story makes sense from the start and the audience can chuckle about missing the hints.

In Talaash, acting is great, dialogue is not distracting and there is no musical style singing and dancing. Assuming important parts of the movie were shot in Puducherry, I couldn't spot any bloopers. The director has chosen not to have an explanation section at the end, like in Sherlock Holmes, Life of Pi or Kahaani, where a character spells out what really happened. Kudos for that.

We can appreciate the lyrics in background songs, cinematography and picturization having realized the 'true' story. Four stars for Talaash.

I have enjoyed pretty much every Hindi movie I have watched in the last two years. Delhi Belly, Zindagi naa milegi dubara, Kahaani, Cocktail, Burfi and now Talaash. I hope to return to the film festival circuit and watch more, different movies on TV/DVD in the near future.

FATAL SPOILERS ALERT. STORY, NOT REVIEW.

1. Surjan is schizophrenic or has a related disorder. Roshni is the caregiver. She regularly meets a psychiatrist to discuss Sujran's treatment. Sujran thinks its for herself. She knowingly indulges that voodoo-lady.

2. Surjan during the investigation, hears about Simran's death three years ago and imagines her to be present and talking to him in his night wanderings. People often notice him talking to himself.

3. The case of Armaan's accident is never resolved. Its A-final. Sashi, Simran's 'ghost' and Sanjay had no role in the accident. Sanjay arranges to kill Sashi and Themur.

4. Surjan like any investigator, works on the clues. His confuses his conclusions as coming from Simran. Checking mortuaries, hospitals for a missing person is standard practice. Sashi's girlfriend could explain his death and had to be looked for.

5. Sujran having realized that Simran is long dead, but still not realizing he is schizophrenic, is panicked by the returning image of Simran and drives off the beach road. Sanjay was trying to control the vehicle before his death.

6. Surjan later comes to terms with his hallucinations and exhumes Simran's body like he should have done upon first hearing about her death.

7. The director tricks the audience by placing Simran's image in places where she wasn't. The director of Kahaani was also criticized for this technique. Exhibit B: Three girls going off with Sashi (though it may have happened 3 years ago), raid on the brothel, killing of Themur. Though Themur may have realized, in the last minutes of his life, that Simran's death was the lynchpin in Sashi's (and his) blackmailing gameplan.

8. The Dada letter was planted by Roshni to help in curing Surjan.

happy bday balajiworld :-)

well, seems this blog turned 6 last week. Feb 23, 2005 being the first post. silly celebrating this, i know. but you have no idea what this blog got me :-)

incidentally, an "avid" reader of my blog chose this day (Feb 23, 2011) to get married!

and I still run ...

oh, this is just to say that I ran the Auroville Half Marathon (timed 2 hrs and 26 mins). and intend to run < a quarter at Sunfeast, another half at Kaveri in September and a full in Mumbai 2012. should take cycling a bit more seriously too. i envy TFNers.

elsewhere, one is up (infact wild!), another down (suspended?) and the third needs attention.

Why I run?

Samar Halarnkar (i like him) had tweeted, asking runners to comment on why they run, for one of his pieces. I sent mine. He said I can post it to my blog and he might use one or two lines. I wish he does :-)

I have been running for few years now. But its very irregular. These days I run about 3 kilometers on the road in the morning and about 2 kms in the gym. I have run two Bangalore Sunfeast 10k runs (with a mediocre 72 mins best time) and I'm planning to run my first half marathon in Auroville come February.

Why I run? As one would expect, I started running to reduce weight and become 'fit'. Merely running doesn't work ofcourse. Infact while I learnt to swim in a crash course of about a month, I was burning lots of calories in the pool and gaining lots of weight outside! I was living in West LA at that time. Try swimming for few hours and going to an Indian restaurant immediately after!!

I know US Republican leader Mike Huckabee lost incredible amounts of weight by running marathons etc. I have lost 4 kgs from 72 to about 68 in the last 4 months. Even this wasn't as easy as it sounds. And it was mostly because of a reduced food intake. But I have become fit nevertheless.

I have heard from an avid cyclist friend (who finished Tour of Nilgiris last year) that biking is a personal struggle with oneself. No matter how trained you are and have friends coming along, that stiff climb on the way is essentially a personal journey. You are on your own. You can give up and walk the bike. But most bikers won't do it. They will struggle with all their might. I'm sure runners feel that way too. Imagine putting that kind of effort in your office work.

Coming back to my running. Since I wasn't all that fit until recently, I used to utter some Sanskrit verses (i'm atheist) to concentrate. After some distance, its difficult even to do that. Then I start counting my steps. I think about various things while running. I quit my previous job after an intense falling out with colleagues and managers. Those fights in office were rehearsed during my morning runs! My manager finishes his Sunfeast 10k runs in less than 60 mins. So there.

And finally, the reason why I think anybody will care about my rant. In the last year, I have been chasing some incredibly tough personal, professional and political goals. Completing a run boosts my self respect (i run 2-3 circles of my neighborhood). When my body wants to give up, my mind tells me, "no, I'm not that weak. I'll finish it. If I can't achieve this, how will I succeed in my bigger goals". I'm not exaggerating. I do feel that way.

Tamil New Year in Chithirai : Explained

In response to popular demand (one person asked), I have written a quick post on the meaningfulness of celebrating Tamil New Year's day on the First day of Chithirai month, which is the Sidereal Vernal Equinox day. I had written a similar post in Tamil few years back and hence the English version now.

Equinox?

day and night are of equal duration. dates are slowly variable across centuries. currently equinoxes occur around March 22 - Spring Equinox and Sept 22 - Autumn Equinox

Solstice?

days when sunlight is longest (Summer Solstice - June 22) and shortest (Winter Solstice - Dec 22)

How so?

The Earth revolves around the sun at an inclination of abt 23 degrees. So Sun appears to move up or down thru the year. One revolution is ofcourse a year.

Now,

Spring Equinox - sun is directly above the Equator - day and night times are equal on March 22. After this day, Sun starts 'going' north.

Summer Solstice - Sun is farthest from the Equator in the northern direction. its now directly above the Tropic of cancer. Tropic of Cancer passes thru Central India. So summer is intense. Naturally the longest day of the year occurs on June 22nd. Sun now turns back and travels south.

Autumn Equinox - Sun has come back to to the top of Equator. day and night times are again equal on Sept 22.

Winter Solstice - Sun is farthest from the Equator in the Southern direction. Farthest from India. Its now directly above the tropic of capricon in the Indian Ocean. Sun is far, so winter is cold. The shortest day of the year occurs on Dec 22nd.

Note: all these seasons are w.r.t to Northern Hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, the seasons will be opposite.

Why shud new year be celebrated on Equinox?

There is no necessity, but many cultures do. A day with equal day-night seems a good candidate. Especially most parts of India celebrate on the Spring Equinox. The Roman calendar also began in March with September (Septa - 7), October (Octa - 8), November (Nova - 9), December (Deci - 10) and ending in the last Month February (less days). But the New Year was moved to January for political reasons. Chinese New Year is supposed to be mid-way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Hence between Jan end to mid Feb.

Equinox is on March 22, why does Tamil New Year occur on April 14?

Becos Tamils (along with malayalis, punjabis, assamese etc) follow Sidereal year and not tropical year. Sidereal is calculating the movement of the Sun vis-a-vis Earth by noting the postion of certain stars. i.e. with respect to fixed positions on the sky and not just the position of the sun. This fixed year is the Sidereal year.

From around April 14, Chitra star (one point of reference) is visible. The Sun is in the Aries (Mesham) zodiac constellation. If we strictly go by the position of the Sun, that year is tropical year. So currently, tropical Equinox is March 22 and sidereal equinox is April 14.

So then, is Ugadi (Telugu/Kannada new year) the correct observance of Spring Equinox?

Not really. They follow a luni-solar calendar. i.e. their months take both the Sun and the Moon into consideration. Their Ugadi (new year) day keeps moving w.r.t the lunar month closer to the Spring Equinox (March 22).

What is Zodiac?

Its just a way of dividing the sky into 12 equal parts and taking a constellation to name it. When the Sun appears within/closer to a constellation of stars, Sun is supposed to be present in that Zodiac. There is no reason to be alarmed about Astrology w.r.t to Zodiac signs.

I don't believe the position of the stars in any year with respect to their position at your time of birth has any relevance. In short, astrology is mostly non-sense. But Zodiac is just a position of the Sun in the sky. So no harm in using the Zodiac signs in conversation.

Coming back, why can't we celebrate New Year on Pongal?

Becos Pongal is already celebrated on Winter Solstice. Sun is turning north from Tropic of Capricon. So its gonna come back to Northern hemisphere, bringing warmth with it. Hence we celebrate. We can as well celebrate both Spring Equinox (as new year) and Winster Solstice as Pongal. More the merrier.

Isn't Pongal the Tamizhar Thirunal (Tamil people's day)?

non-sense. Winter Solstice is celebrated in almost all the states of India. Everywhere its the harvest festival. The joy of Sun starting the northerly journet bringing Spring. And in many states rice-moong dal Pongal (aka Kichidi) is the specialty. This day btw is called Makara Sankranthi becos the Sun travels from the Makara line (Tropic of Capricorn) towards north from this day.

Why can't we have Thiruvalluvar Year and Thiruvalluvar Day as reference for New Year?

How do we know Thiruvalluvar was born on that year? What evidence? Its mere conjecture by Maraimalai Adgigal (aka Vedachalam) that the author of Thirukural was born 31 years before Christ. A dubious assertion which shud not be taken seriously.

And Thiruvalluvar day was selected by Karunanidhi as the day after Pongal, which incidentally is based on the same Tamil calendar which picks Sidereal Vernal Equinox day (Chithirai 1) for New Year. An arbitrary year and arbitrary day as Thiruvalluvar's birth day is quite silly. That day cannot be the start of our year.

The Sunset of the Decade

As the noughties come to a close, its time to look back. In my case, its also ten years since I left home for College and beyond.

As a small town kid from Vaniyambadi, who set out to explore the world, I had a chip on my shoulders. I had topped my town in both 10th and 12th standard board exams. And having literally lived at the Perumal temple, lot of people knew me. Or atleast I knew many!

But in late 1999, I went to live in Chennai, having made a serious mistake. I chose Engineering and Computer Science! After 6 years in the academia and 4 years in the industry, Computer Science bores me no end. I could have earned a doctorate in Indian History and been a Professor somewhere. But that story, which may still materialize is for another day.

Chennai initially alarmed me. I was living with my grand parents and the city as such was devoid of life and impersonal. Actually, it was just me. I remember doing nothing worthwhile in my undergrad years. And another bad decision followed. I accepted a campus offer to work as a coolie. Sometime during that coolieship, in 2004, I was sent to Maharashtra and my life changed.

In Ahmednagar, my client factory worked 6 days a week and the seventh day, there was power shutdown thru the town! For 3 months, every Satuday, I travelled the span of Central Maharashtra including Ajantha and Ellora. From that trip on, until now, I have mostly lived between trips. At any point in time, I always had a trip in the horizon. Thats a good feeling.

Having discovered my disinterest in CS, I still went for a Masters from Arizona. The travel appealed to me. I was too finicky with food and hated Chipotle becos of unflavored rice. I also started a blog. My English was much, much worse than what it is now. My academic life in Tucson was awful but at that point, I didn't even care. Among the various trips Colorado stands out. That I reckon was also the last trip when I sported a moustache.

Los Angeles changed me in so many ways. Food to begin with. We checked out every affordable restraunt in Beverly Hills and today I can eat anything Vegetarian on the planet and savor it. Some afternoons, I have walked about a mile for Chipotle! (But spare me the awful Kannadiga Sambar please.)

And I wonder if there is any Star Bucks in West LA that I haven't been to. My coffee has remained firmly black for 4 years now. A South Indian who rediscovered Coffee in a faraway land! And While I was content with finishing the IMDB list and the odd Amelie or two in Arizona, I went full throttle on world movies.

And the trips kept on improving. One nice evening, in a sweet little town called Gardiner in Montana, just north of Yellowstone, I tasted wine for the first time! Today, in parties and happy hours, people just count me for wine. And I have tasted lots of other foul liquids too. From these years, I hate to pick one trip as stand out, but I'll cherish Alaska forever.

Before returning to India, I wanted to travel for a month in southern Europe. But in the end, chose not to travel alone for fear of boredom. And not visiting Machu Picchu is another regret.

Anyway, the vast swathes of India beckoned. Until 1999, I had traveled outside Tamilnadu, exactly five times. 3 of them to Thirupathi! In the last 20 months, I have explored a lot more of India without having touched a single Hindi speaking state!

For the decade, that exposed me to so much diversity, of places, people, cuisines, coffee, movies, wine and unforgetable experiences, a big Thank You! It was awesome.

How fitting that I'll culminate the noughties in the quiet surroundings of a place that'll take me 2400 years back into the past!

The Giving Issue

Mint, my favorite paper has once again come up with a list of good NGOs to goad people to give. Here's the list from my visual parsing. And you can find last Deepavali's list here.

http://cry.org

http://childsurvival-india.org

http://deepalaya.org

http://nanhikali.org

http://udayancare.org

http://planindia.org

http://ashaf.org

http://youthforseva.org

http://preranaatc.com

http://makkalajagriti.org

I also found the following NGOs and non-profits at the Sneha Santhe organized recently in Bengaluru.

http://ananyatrust.com

http://yuvabengaluru.org

http://disha.resolve.at

http://spasticssocietyofkarnataka.org

http://ecoalertindia.org

http://balajothi.org

http://rangde.org

http://prathambooks.org

And here's a list of orgs that I have trusted in the recent past.

http://www.akshayapatra.org/
http://www.samarthanam.org/

http://www.care.org/
http://divinekarnatakaproject.org/v1/floodrelief.htm
http://www.aidindia.org/main/

http://greenpeace.org/india

As the new year cometh ...

I find myself almost friendless in Bengaluru! hmm ... thats one thing I really need to work on, this new year.

And talking of resolutions, its been two years to the day since I started experimenting with Vegan/Jain food. There has been some setback on that front. Too much plant meat these days. Need to work on that too.

And contrary to popular opinion that 2008 was a bad year, I have no qualms against it. It was good to me. It started near Times Square with me almost drunk on wine. Hawaii, Vegas, Kualalumpur, Goa, Mysore, Hyderabad, Kudremukha and Trivandrum in a trip year is fine with me. Besides I moved back with Parents and made (few) new friends.

Yes, it was a bit weird fielding calls about my parent's safety in Bengaluru when I was partying in Goa! But the economic woes haven't really had any effect on me except as opportunities. Hope 2009 brings more trips and good movies.

Happy New Year!

Gopu Chettiar - part 2

continued from here.

Ramalingam told his rapt audience how Gopu Chettiar had fallen into the trap of that small little thing he had married last year and was close to bankruptcy. It took hardly two days for the rumor to spread. It has been a matter of debate whether Chinese silk or French wine was part of the consignment in the ship that never sunk off the Nagapattinam coast. But the conclusion that Chettiar was drowning never remained in doubt.

It started as a trickle but by the third evening, the queue outside Chettiar's palatial house was longer than the sturdy rope used to draw the temple chariot. They had all come to collect their deposits back from Chettiar. Any refusal to return the money would confirm Chettiar's alleged bankruptcy. And so it went.

By the end of the week, Chettiar could no longer sustain the deluge. He had exhausted his cash and textile holdings and it was time for some tragedy. He decided to gather all the gold from among his women and sell them off in Karaikal. Selling in a French post would guard against further rumors and the police, which had woken up to the scandal. So Chettiar devised a plan.

He called half a dozen of his close confidants, each unknown to the others, and handed them a sack of gold. They were supposed to carry it secretly to Manjakudi, which is on the way to Karaikal. Chettiar going out on his bullock-cart with sacks of gold would guarantee looting if not lynching.

On the conspired night, Chettiar was waiting at a non-descript house in Manjakudi for his confidants to arrive. At the same time in six different households of Kumbakonam, men with due prodding from their favorite wives, had decided that Chettiar was anyway a goner with just one sack of gold left with him. They decided to stay at home and perform an archana for Chettiar at the temple next morning.

Honor is a pretty bad thing. From the smallest men to the most noble, men possessed with honor do the same thing. As the sun rose across the Kaveri, the sounds of the chirping birds gave a poignant background to the lone bullock cart trudging back to Kumbakonam. Crushed diamond pieces from his ring had done their job.

ok. I was pretty bored this alleged Diwali morning and ventured to figure how bad I suck at fiction. I heard the non-spicy part of the above story from my grand uncle (age 92), who had briefly rented one of Chettiar's Kumbakonam houses. And this conversation happened while discussing the run on ICICI bank recently.

Gopu Chettiar

Its 1922. Gopu Chettiar was a man of immense wealth and repute in the temple town of Kumbakonam. No one really knew how wealthy he was. He owned every house and shop in the most commercial street of the town.

Chettiar also doubled up as the local bank. Farmers and small traders dare not keep their capital at home, lest burglars have a field night. Chettiar did business far and wide. He reportedly controlled the textile business of the entire district with Karaikal, the French dominion south of Pondicherry.

One fine evening, Chettiar was tasting the divine food aka Kuzhi Paniyaram at his portico. His third wife Visalatchi was determined to become his favorite. When your husband is sixty years old, culinary is the best option to impress him.

While he was working on the paniyarams, Chettiar was mulling over the business proposition made by Ramalingam, his grand-nephew through his second wife. Chettiar knew he was in trouble. The business made little sense. A Chettiar hotel will fall flat against the Brahmin ones. But 200 rupees was worth wasting on Ramalingam atleast to placate his second wife, whom he hardly saw these days.

But Visalatchi would have none of it. She was two years younger than this grand-nephew-in-law and could read the smirk in his gaze. And she had her way. Ramalingam will get his No, the next morning.

The Mandapam beside the main pond on the west Car street was busy as usual this evening. It was the daily meeting place of the most important men in town. Ramalingam having never earned a ana paisa in life, was a crucial member of this gathering. Such outstanding issues as the most beautiful dancer in the recent temple festival were debated and voted in these meetings. And that day, Ramalingam had some rice to grind.

continued immediately in the next post ...

Back to the good ol' days!

Of all the things that I dreaded missing about US, world cinema was the dearest. The theater just opposite my apartment only screened World movies! But it seems the future may not be that bleak afterall :)

Between UTV World Movies, Zee Studio and the History Channel, I think there'll be enough fodder to feast on. I just watched Trois Couleurs: Bleu on WM, which ofcourse is on my all time favorite list. In the last week alone, I have recapped Paris Je taime, Copenhagen, Viva Cuba and the Massacre in Rome. Not bad :)

Don't know whether I'll get to watch 'Religulous' hitting theaters this fall. But Bill Maher will be back in August. And I'm catching up on my You Tube dose of Redstate Update, Ann Coulter, and Richard Dawkins. And it was a pleasure to watch Kamal kick some theist a** in Dasavatharam. So far so good!

Bangalored!

Things have been happening in Bengaluru. BJP has come to power, the new airport is open and more importantly, yours truly has moved in here! Lets see how worse the city can become bcos of me.

Kudos to the voters of Karnataka for sending Devegowda to the doghouse. The lack of governance in the last few years is palpable. I was told Koramangala is a decent neighborhood. Really? Amidst uneven sidewalks, non-existent street lighting and scary traffic, I'm happy to be alive!

And boy, folks are complaining that the new airport is away from the city. huh? If I were given charge, I would even move the bus stand somewhere close to Hosur! Keep as many vehicles off the city roads as possible, simple.

As a sidenote, what is one supposed to do if your auto-driver almost runs over people on the street and they stare at you? Anyway, I cannot wait to find an apt, settle down and start making weekend trips. More, hopefully soon.

I would rather be ...

... chilling in Hawaii now. I went there in February and had since been too occupied to collect, select and post these pics. Its been a busy two months and there's more to do in the next month. Sigh! I need a break.




Its been 9 years since I left school and 5 years since I left undergrad college. I long for those years when my only concern was to rush home from school in time to watch "The Wonder Years". Wish I could outsource decisions and other mundane tasks that are burdening me now.



I'm on the home run of my 3 and half years US sojourn. Few more decisions, lots of travel and many adieus' later, I'll be back in India!

Be warned of increased activity in this space!

Eternal struggle of the Tamil Mind

I wrote the following as a 'comment' in a Churumuri discussion on the Classical Language fracas between Tamil and Kannada.

1. What has Tamil achieved by this classical language tag? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We have always had “Long live classical Tamil” kind of boards in TN. Getting the union government to ‘recognize’ this, was just a massaging of the egos and cheap politics.
2. That criterion for classical languages was originally drawn by Prof. George Hart who occupies the Tamil chair at UC Berkeley. He would obviously have his biases. That list should not be taken seriously.
3. As for as I know Kannada today is in a better shape than Tamil. Our versions of Ananthamurthies and Girish Karnads, have no voice whatsoever. The number of Gnanpith awards and Sahaitya Akademi fellowships lay witness to the better shape of Kannada literature.
4. We Tamils have always claimed credit for the collective heritage of all south indian langauges. Even Tamils know that claims like oldest Tamil book discovered being 2500 years old are false! Kannadiga’s should only be amused and not feel insecure about our theatrics!
5. Its funny that Kannadiga’s are being urged to feel insecure for not being insecure already! Tamils espouse their language more out of insecurity than any notions of superiority.
6. People often confuse Tamil’s fight with itself for survival as supremacy! Everyone in TN has heard of the phrase ‘Mella Tamil ini saagum’ (Tamil will slowly die). Kannada may not be having such problems. So just ignore us.

Some examples of this Tamil fight for survival.

a. 300 BC - Brahmi script brought by Jains to south India is adopted by Tamil. It could either mean that Tamils had no script prior to that or the existing script lost space to Brahmi.
b. 300 BC - 700 AD - Mainly Jain/Buddhist/Ajivika literature is available from this period. What happened to the Hindu (rather native-Tamil) literature? Were they lost or simply did not exist?
c. 1200~ - 1800 AD - Grantha script and Sanskrit words overwhelm Tamil. Thats essentially Sankritization. Later, few people including Christian missionaries from Europe helped to rediscover Tamil.
d. 1800~ - 1950 - Sanskrit words again assault Tamil since printing press was in the hands of Brahmins. Another movement was launched among others by Periyar to recover ground. Roughly in the same period Carnatic Music bypasses Tamil because Nayaks were ruling TN and also because Tamil being quite rigid in the kind of sounds it can make, was not suitable for Carnatic Music.
e. 1950 - 1970 - Having just fought Sanskrit, Tamils panicked and fought Hindi tooth and nail.
f. Today we are fighting against English because most Tamils find their own language to be too difficult to communicate effectively. Even I cannot speak few sentences in a row without using English words.

So much for Tamil supremacy! Kannadiga’s should be happy that you guys are not as insecure as we are!

Reel Life

Once in a while, you get to watch movies that take you by storm. Movies that are flawless and make you yell, "best movie ever made!". This is my list, as of now...

1. Un coeur en hiver (A heart in Winter) - French - Watched it twice last weekend. I'm yet to recover from it. Are such movies even possible?
2. Double vie de Véronique, La (The Double Life of Veronique) - Polish/French - Irene Jacob and Kieslowski. hehe!
3. 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) - Romanian - Hard hitting and troublesome!
4. Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (Amelie) - French - Probably my first European Movie. It still remains a favorite.
5. Laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) - Spanish - Three movies in one. Each worth watching.
6. Dekalog - 1 (The Decalogue) - Polish - Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Kieslowski can make you cry!
7. Vozvrashcheniye (The Return) - Russian - My heart was in my throat half the movie. "A movie only russia can make!"
8. Trois couleurs: Bleu (Three Colors: Blue)- French - Kieslowski - Spiritual Suicide, enough said! Not recommended for mothers.
9. Casablanca - Can you beat this screenplay?
10. Dekalog - 5 (The Decalogue) - Polish - Thou Shall not kill - Kieslowski can make you think. After pissing you off, that is!
11. Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries) - Swedish - Only watchable movie from Bergman. Isn't that incentive enough?
12. Au revoir Les Enfants (Goodbye, Children)- French - A zillion Holocaust movies can't beat this.
13. Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) - German - drama at its best
14. Mitt liv som hund (My Life as a Dog) - Swedish - don't know where to place this movie. even thinking about this movie makes we wanna cry.
15. Ulzhan - French/Kazakh/Russian - Ulzhan and Shamanism, what a combination!

Also rans:

1. The God Father - I'm off to Sicily.
2. Bacheha-Ye aseman (Children of Heaven)- Iranian - Zahra, Ali and a pair of shoes!
3. Dil Chahta Hai - Hindi - huh?
4. Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek) - Tamil - Mani Ratnam - Its a great movie because... I said so!

Top 25 must watch Indian movies!

Wow, I love my work! This afternoon our Product Director asked me for a list of Top 25 must watch Indian movies. How nice, since he normally disturbs my browsing schedule with bug reports! So here we go! The list is not in any order.

The Apu Trilogy (Bengali) - Made by Satyajit Ray, Honorary Oscar winner - TIME All-time 100 list.
Pyaasa (Hindi) - Made by Guru Dutt - TIME All-time 100 list.
Nayakan (Tamil) - Made by Mani Ratnam who also made Roja and Bombay in the 90s - TIME All-time 100 list.
Sholay (Hindi) - Most famous Hindi movie ever - Released in 1975 is still running in a cinema in Mumbai! - Stars Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Dharmendra and Hema Malini (who married in real life too!) - Music by R. D. Burman.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Hindi) - Popular and trend setting movie in the 90s starring the famous Shah Rukh and Kajol pair.
16 Vayathinile (Tamil) - Most famous Tamil movie ever - Made by Bharathiraja - Starring Kamal Hassan, Rajnikanth and Sridevi - Music by Illayaraja.
Satya (Hindi) - Best work of Ram Gopal Varma.
Shiva (Telugu) - Popular Telugu movie - Debut work by Ram Gopal Varma.
Salaam Bombay (Hindi) - Made by Mira Nair whose other films include The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding, Kamasutra, Vanity Fair and the upcoming Shantaram (starring Johnny Depp) - Nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar.
Lagaan: Once upon a Time in India (Hindi) - Nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar - Starring Amir Khan and music by A R Rahman.
Dil Chatha Hai (Hindi) - My personal favorite! - Starring Aamir Khan, Preity Zinta and others - Best Hindi movie in recent times.
Lage Raho Munna Bhai (Hindi) - Recent popular comedy - Mahatma Gandhi's memory guides a gangster! - Funnily the person who played gangster, Sanjay Dutt has been convicted and sentenced in the Mumbai blast case which killed around 300 people in 1993. (And the actress Vidya Balan visits me in my dreams!)
Sagara Sangamam (Telugu) - Highly acclaimed movie made by K. Vishwanath - Starring Kamal Hassan as a Indian classical dancer.
Earth (Hindi) - Second of the Trilogy Fire, Earth and Water made by Indian born Canadian director Deepa Mehta. Water was nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar from Canada last year. Stars Nandita Das.
Anand (Hindi) - Famous work of Hrishikesh Mukherjee starring Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan.
Mughal-E-Azam (Urdu) - Most famous Urdu movie ever - Starring Prithviraj Kapoor and Madhubala.
Shri 420 (Hindi) - Starring Raj Kapoor and Nargis - The famous song "Mera Joota Japani".
Mother India (Hindi) - India's first nomination for Best Foreign Language Oscar - Starring real life pair of Nargis and Sunil Dutt.
Hanuman (Hindi) - Animated movie.
Manichitrathazhu (Malayalam) - Made by Fazil starring Mohan Lal and Shobana - Even its remakes in other Indian Languages were box office hits!
Elippathayam (Malayalam) - Famous work of Adoor Gopalakrishnan.
Dweepa (Kannada) - Famous work of Girish Kasaravalli.
The Making of the Mahatma (English) - Movie on Mahatma Gandhi's early life in South Africa by Shyam Benegal.
Bandit Queen (Hindi) - Based on the real life story of Bandit Phoolan Devi - Made by Shekhar Kapur who also made Oscar winning British movie Elizabeth.
Ardh Satya (Hindi) - Made by Govind Nihalani - Stars Om Puri, Amrish Puri and Naseeruddin Shah.

Magic Weekend!

There's magic in the air. As I write this, I know lots of folks around the world are already reading the Deathly Hallows. Its still four hours left here in this part of the world. Here's a not so live blog...

8 PM, Friday: I only got the Silver! I went to Borders straight from work and guess what... fans have already lapped up the Orange wristbands! Well, fans get wristbands of six colors based on which they'll stand in the queue at midnight. I only got the second color. No matter!

For all those non-magical folks (Muggles) who are amused by all this, here's fews bits to kindle your intellectual curiosity.

1. The word 'Magic' comes from the Magis' - the Zoroastrian priests! Magis are similar to Rabbi's of Judaism and Brahmins of Vedic Hinduism (ala Brahmanism). Zoroaster, who may or may not have founded the said religion was a priest who used to render hymns from the Rig Veda.

There was a huge debate between Vedic scholars who took sides between Devas and Asuras. No, Asuras were not bad guys at that time. Zoroastrians celebrated Varuna Mithra, whom we now probably know as Ahura Mazda. (Ahura = Asura). Hinduism might have later demonised Asuras because of this fundamental divide.

2. For all we know Harry Potter may be a PIO - Person of Indian Origin! Afterall, the original witches and wizards are the Romani people whom we also know as Gypsies. Its suggested that, during the Islamic invasion, they migrated from Northwest India to Persia and eventually to Europe. The Romani flag now has the Ashoka Chakra to celebrate this bond! Romani history is a heart wrenching one. More on that may be on a later post.

3. Its one of my dreams to visit the Church of 'Sara Kali' (yes 'Kali') in Southern France. This amazing Goddess is a heady mixture of Christianity, Judaism and Romani Hinduism. Her black color and the name obviously derive from India. Christianity claims that she walked on the Mediterranean waters to welcome the early Christians from the Holy Land. And ofcourse we can also imagine her to be the daughter of Jesus Christ who escaped from the 'Christians' (Or someone related to that supposed event).

10 PM, Friday: I'm now leaving for the 'Grand Hallows Ball' at Borders. When I'm back I'll have the book.

1 AM, Saturday: I have it! It took about 45 mins on the queue. Not bad, was it? Now, I'll be back on planet Earth when I complete the book.

8 PM, Sunday: Done.

An Ode to Beverly Hills and LA

We had an office 'Happy Hour' last night. Probably our last in gorgeous Beverly Hills since we are moving to Marina Del Rey. Next week, it'll be one year since I moved to Los Angeles and a close colleague is leaving the company. Oh yes, despite the taunts, my Margarita stayed virgin!

Severals years from now, I'll probably look back longingly at my current utopian existence. Where else will you get theaters which are worth visiting themselves, 'bay watch' in five minutes and the fun of seeing the streets and the restaurants you lunch everyday being clicked hysterically by tourists. And add to this, good friends from UCLA and book stores all around, its an experience!

If you happen to come here, stay within the splendid environs of Westwood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Malibu. Don't even bother to venture into other parts of the city. Its hell, plain and simple. And if you didn't know already, we are the specimens in the lab for climate change and global warming. It hasn't rained for ever, but snowed in Santa Monica and the Hollywood sign was on fire!

I know, people have to move on in their careers. But still, I'll miss this colleague for the damn serious foosball, arguments about everything in the history books, collective M$ bashing, Harry Potter discussions and the tryst with rifle shooting. No more 'Dobroye utro', hmm...

And speaking of Harry Potter, saw Order of the Phoenix yesterday. I can only say that the theater was good! But then if you have read the books several times, its hard to satisfy you. Come Friday night, I'll be queuing at Borders for the Deathly Hallows. What about you?

ps: Beckham is in the neighborhood. Boys beware!!

God = Alcohol?

Its been a busy two weeks. Busy being lazy! Went to Yellowstone for Memorial day weekend and had a great time. Will post photos once I get my laptop fixed.

In the meanwhile I have been reading a lot on philosophy/religion. In response to my previous post, I had lot of people complaining about my assertions that "I know a lot" about religions! True, I'm hardly a theologian. When I say "I have read about a religion", it normally means several 'Breadth First' readings of Wikipedia articles. With few books, novels and mirchi debates with friends also thrown in.

For example, at this moment I'm reading a novel called 'The Haj' (on the fate of Palestinian Arabs during the Zionist movement), have almost given up Orhan Pamuk's 'Snow' as a lost cause and keeping 'The Secrets of the Vedas' and the proverbial 'India, a History' by John Keay for some light reading. Next week I'll be starting 'A sourcebook in Indian Philosophy'. Edited by Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, it contains excerpts from many important works in Indian Philosophy. Is this level of reading enough to form opinion about religions and gurus? Well, I think so.

Considering that I'm now a self declared supporter of anything French and that I live in California, its only natural that I should try some wine! And so I did on my Yellowstone trip with 'White Zinfandel'. It was horrible! I have always ridiculed my friends who drink 'rotten flora juices'. Now I have personal evidence that this thing really sucks. Anyway one of my friends tried to impress me with this, "Truth is bitter, so is alcohol. Hence Alcohol is truth!". Although I brushed aside that inebriated quip, it helped me to form an interesting theory about God.

This is how it works. Wine tastes really bad, period. The drunkards claim that once you drink more and more, you'll start liking it. i.e You'll like wine when you are addicted to it! Sorry guys, I'm not that stupid. Anyway, isn't that the same with ones belief in God? Anyone who has had some education or has given it a fair bit of thought can be reasonably certain that God doesn't exist. Or he can atleast never buy the cock and bull stories that our religions sell about God. The only reason most of us believe in God or claim to believe in God is because our parents and society have made us addicted to it! So I now claim God = Alcohol. Anyone in his stable state won't like either of them. Others are in 'excited' states!

Few months ago, on a trip to Patagonia Lake in Arizona, another friend of mine was trying to convince us to go boating. None of us can swim! So I offered the logical retort that "I'm not ready to drown yet!". This led to a 'philosophical' debate on "what do we have to lose if we die today?" Yesterday he returned to the topic. "Will it be so bad if we commit suicide?". In most cases, it'll indeed be bad. Even ignoring our personal loss, it will cause devastation to our parents and other loved ones. But what about orphans who have no personal bonds and in many cases lead a wretched life? Is it ok for them to commit suicide? Well, obviously myself and my friend do not believe in life after death. For us death is the end of our physical and spiritual existence.

Now the question is, does Suicide = Moksha? Come to think of it, all these Sadhus try real hard to get out of family bonds. Material possessions are anyway easy to lose. So when you have nothing left to care about, are we ready to attain Moksha? If you are familiar with the 'northening' concept (vadakkiruththaL, in Tamil, popularlised by that koperunjcholan - pisiraanthaiar story) or the Jain 'Sallekhana', aren't those folks trying to commit suicide? If so why are our laws in general and religions like Islam in particular against suicides?

While you do that assignment you can also send me answers on 'Whats wrong, if at all, with polytheism?' for extra credits.

Footnote 1: It should be obvious that I'm agnostic. But I do understand why 'Man created God!'. I have read in someone's blog that "Agnostics are atheists without ba**s". So I call myself Atheist. Now this doesn't stop me from being a Hindu. Cool, isn't it?

Footnote 2: Did you know that Mormons believe the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri and that their founder Joseph Smith ran for US president?!!