Ra-Sa

Junior Saro ....Devar Magan....born on 11th Jan in Tanjore...For now, disturbing sleeps of his parents and grandparents....:)

Not yet named.....For now, he is nicknamed Ra-Sa (Ramya + Saro)

:)

Thalaivar birthday celebrations 2009

This was the fourth year we are celebrating thalaivar's birthday @ Bangalore. And I had to travel from my client office to our office just for the celebrations! Anything for thalaivar....We got a huge 3 kilo cake done (thanks to naadas, kuruvi, parachute and dumkaa) and cut it in front of a huge crowd. Here is a video....

Funny to think that I have celebrated thalaivar's birthday everytime in Bangalore than Chennai....:))

Oh! I was a kid then..

Oh! I was a kid then

awed by her presence

Friends we were

With boundaries blur

Years took us apart

Cattle in different cart

Still we were stuck

Mails and some luck

Time tried its best

Somebody did the rest

Cracks came in

And it never was the same

Maybe God made me grow

To become what am now

Maybe Time got bored

And wanted some more

Grow up, I did - a little

and became brittle

Still the Hugs I shared -

Smelt of her

Time kept its due

The day rain made a hue

The door bell rang

and there She stood.

Oh! I was a kid again

awed by her presence

With her smile - that made

the wait worthwhile

She spent moments

And bid goodbye

Days after that

My heart still lags

Time did not want

To take us apart

Rather to tell me

What it was I lost.

Thevar Magan - Magic of Kamal and Ilayaraja

I never get tired of watching the climax scene in Thevar Magan.

The point where Kamal wails in agony, when Nasser's mom cries out that all the milk she gave is spilt as blood now. Right there, Ilayaraja adds his chorus into the proceedings producing sheer magic for the next couple of minutes till the end credits roll.

Touching finish...

Flora and Fauna @ Elangadu

When spending the first few days on my return from US in Elangadu, I captured some of the flora and fauna there. Ramya captured the squirrel busy with the coconut. Elangadu is a sleepy little village along the banks of Cauvery river. Coconut groves and paddy fields dot the landscape with banana trees thrown in. Fauna is typical Indian tropical with lot of squirrels, crows, sparrows, goats, dogs, an occasional woodpecker, kingfisher, etc.

Diwali 2009 @ Bangalore

This was the first time that I spent Diwali weekend in Bangalore.

It was a good one with driving all the way to Salem for crackers; lots of shopping in Hosur; a totally vegetarian but very delicious Diwali (topped with sweets from four states!); spending quality time with friends.

This weekend seemed too long and happy.

J

Valaigaapu Kavidhai

this is what i wrote for ramya's valaigaapu aka baby shower

கரம் கொடுத்தாள்
கை பிடித்தேன்

வரம் கேட்டாள்
உயிர் தந்தேன்

சிறை வைத்தாள்
பத்து மாதம்

பிறை விலங்கு விலக்க
வளை அணி விழா

மார்கழி ஐந்தில்
மேட்டுபட்டி சந்தில்

கரம் கூப்பி
அழைக்கின்றேன்

உண்மைகள் பொய் ஆக
உங்கள் மொய் - என்

வங்கி கணக்கை
நிரப்படும்.

Good Trailers I came across..

I leave the stories for the trailers to tell...:)

Pandorum

Capitalism

Law Abiding Citizen

The Men Who Stare at Goats

En Thaai Pirandha Desam

I have known this song for a long time and its one of the songs close to my heart. When I listened to this now, I can relate this to the lost cause. I have just given the verses which I felt were directly related to the lost cause. The movie is Siraichalai (Kalapaani in Hindi) and music by Ilayaraja. The songs starts as 'Idhu Thaai Pirandha Desam...'

வீரனை குண்டுகள் துளைக்காது
வீரத்தை சரித்திரம் புதைக்காது

நாட்டை நினைக்கும் நெஞ்சங்கள்
வாடகை மூச்சில் வாழாது

இறந்த உயிர்களோ கணக்கில்லை
இருமி சாவதில் சிறப்பில்லை

இன்னும் என்னடா விளையாட்டு
எதிரி நரம்பிலே கொடி ஏத்து!

நிலத்தடியில் புதைந்திருக்கும்
பிணங்களுக்கும் மனம் துடிக்கும்

தாயோ பத்தே மாசம் தான்
அதிகம் சுமந்தது தேசம் தான்

உயிரும் உடலும் யார் தந்தார்?
உணர்ந்து பார்த்தால் தேசம் தான்

இந்த புழுதி தான் உடல் ஆச்சு
இந்த காற்று தான் உயிர் மூச்சு

இன்று இரண்டுமே பறி போச்சு
இன்னும் என்னடா வெறும் பேச்சு?

Religious Rants

If you are an atheist, there is just one religion for you. If you are a theist, then God save you! Half the problems in today's world are either through religion or religious men.

I am a theist. I am not religious.

I do not want to get into whether Religions came through God(s). All I make out is that there were some very clever men behind the framework of each religion. Generation after generation, these men moulded the framework. They thought of all the problems in society at that point of time and tried to address them in the framework. They also thought of all the natural disasters and calamities they did not understand then and again fit them in the framework. Add to it, things they did not like happening in the society and lo! they are the most important part of the framework.

The end products, as we see today, is the work of so many people. But what we fail to understand, across religions, is that they were still human made. Tell me one product made by humans which is infallible and irrefutable?

The question is not whether I need to follow a religion. The question to ask is whether I, as a human, need to follow another human blindly? If some human, who just by living a few thousand years before me has the advantage of giving a path to God, why can't I find my own new path to reach my God? What makes someone who lived before special and me ordinary? Nothing!

So, are religions bad? No. Are there good things in religious? Yes. But can they be better? Certainly!

I don't care about people who practice their weirdest path as long as they do not harm others.

More importantly, my heart bleeds for a few people caught in some religion who cannot break the shackles. They are those who hate some customs in their religions but can never come out or talk about it. What wrong did they do? Can't they have their freedom?

God made Man. Man made religion. What is religion fast making? End of Earth.

Am back..

whewww...it took three weeks to get back to blogging. Am still caught in my day to day things. Guess, back here in India, you have more things to do, more friends to catch up with, etc. Time flies....:)

Ramya is doing fine. Still in Tanjore. Am busy hunting a home in Bangalore. I suddenly realize that I have more friends in office in Bangalore than Chennai. :)

Will start writing very soon...

:)

Back to India

will be in by 25th......out of internet for 2 weeks....:)

my mobile num will be +91-9941684251

Muncie's Thiruvalluvar

You read the title right...thats how I call him. And boy...look at his beard....how else can I call him?

But it was not just the beard that is fascinating about Stan......He owns the Heorots Bar....He owns two wolves as pets....He has a beer named after him and with his figure on its label...(see inset)....the beer is called ard ri...

It was a pleasure to meet him.

Tamil Street Dance aka Kuthu dance

Here's a You Tube Playlist of Tamil Street Dance...This dance is done at any place and every place...whether its a marriage or a death.....we just love this dance...:))...I will try to give a few words on the situation in each song...so that you can appreciate better...i have written it down in the order they come up in the playlist...

Saro's Kuthu Playlist

1) Anjale song

This song is where the guy is all drunk and sings about his lost love (the girl dies earlier in an accident)......the dance is casual....Chennai is captured nice in night....

2) Padichu Pathen song
This song is where friends go and dance about in one of their friend's sister marriage.....the dance is full of energy and life....look out for the dance bit at 2:02...rocks!

3) Kathale Kanale song

This is like a bar song with an amazing choreography......the rhythm is simple and catchy.....the moves are good!...the girl dancer has a real charm!....

4) Kannadasan song

I call this Brian's song....he liked it when I played it on my car audio....:)....again, a bar song with a simple rhythm...the dance movements are slow (as it is all drunkards!)....there is one line which when translated goes like this "Drinking is like snake's poison...but when u do it with all others, it becomes socialism'....now, hows that?...:)

5) Nakka Mukka song

This was so popular among our youth last year.....it was like their anthem.....nice beat.....and amazing dance!.

:))

Aadi 28

Here's a collage of Aadi 28.

Now, the name will sound different to non-tamilians. The name means 28th day of the tamil month of 'Aadi'. Usually comes around 13 or 14 August.

Its an all exclusive family festival in our village Mettupatti in Trichy. Its been happening for 3-4 generations before us. All our family members come together and feast! I missed it this time though Ramya went and had fun.

As Sivaji says in Devar Magan, "5000 varusham munaadi vetri vel, veera vel'nu vel kambu veecharuvanu thookitu suthuna kaatu payyaga dhaan naanga" (we are still the same in spirit like our ancestor nomads who went about with spears and sickles 5000 years before)..

:))

Chicken Curry and Chicken Biriyani Recipes

Here are my own recipes on Chicken Curry and Biriyani. ...:)

Chicken Curry Recipe

Chicken Biriyani Recipe

And I fully understand that cooking is all about improvisations. So, if you find something that you can tweak and make better, do let me know.

:))

Cookout at Tim's place

Keeping up a promise to Tim and Karen, I went down there this Saturday and cooked two South Indian dishes. Chicken Curry and Chicken Biriyani. It was such a fun filled and satisfying experience. I learnt a lot from Karen on parenting and keeping the family happy and fit.

Both the dishes turned out well and left the Scofield family hot while eating!...:)

District 9

Aliens.

This is as real as it gets.

No second thoughts.

Watch the movie wherever you are.

Not recommended for girls and kids.

50 years to the legend Kamal!

Today (Aug 12th), Kamal completes 50 years of on-screen acting. Below was my take on Dasavatharam movie when it released in 2008. To a person who has been a trend setter always, here's my salute:

Off late, Kamal is always racing against himself. None seem to be up there racing with him. When a man has seen so much in his field, I wonder how is thought process will be. Will he be thinking cinema even in his dreams? Maybe. But as my better half quipped "When he can 'act' in ten different ways, why does he don ten different make ups?". I had no answer to that question. But this question very well could be the answer to how Dasavatharam fares (how is when you watch the movie). Not that the man himself would worry about. The box office hype and marketing strategies (something he missed out for Aalavandhan) will certainly carry the film across.

But as a fan, what do I get?

Kamal in all his brilliance. Period.

The body language and dialogue delivery of all the ten roles will blow you out. The tremendous effort put in for each role are evidently seen and will be appreciated. There is subtle humour around every corner and the constant poking of Kamal's atheist-in-him is beautifully done (aka Anbe Sivam's character). The graphics are good. Background score is done well.

Maybe they did this film in a hurry but some of the make ups could have been done better. They seem way out of place and artificial. The story is loosely based on Chaos theory and is woven beautifully to accomodate the Tsunami in a way we would not have imagined. But some of the characters that Kamal plays seem thrusted upon the story. Its almost like 'heyyy...i am done with 8 characters.....now, where do i fit the 9th one...'.

All said and done, its worth a watch once to see the greatest actor of our times to put himself in unfamiliar grounds once more and come out with his glory intact (albeit with a few scars).

Hairy Tales!

See Chris Rock (a stand up comedian in US) get to Chennai in quest of ....he he he..

(its a Youtube Video link)

http://tinyurl.com/mlx9jm

Now, that's a hair raising tale!...:))

At least Chennai gets its due ...:)