Friday, November 13, 2009

Ananya Swaminathan from Mylapore...huh? ..

Its time for Chetan Bhagat fans to cheer. Chetan Bhagat is back to his 'Five Point Someone' Form. I did not like his 'Three Mistakes of My Life.'(I personally thought writing that book was the 'Fourth' Mistake of His Life). Now... Chetan Bhagat offers an happy ending 'Ek Duje Ke Liye'.(and no..this one is not his 'FIFTH' Mistake.)

The Story(There is little story and lots of exaggeration)of Miss Ananya Swaminathan becoming Mrs.Krish Malhotra.

The Girl is pretty and is a Tamil Brahmin from Mylapore. (This was my first motivation to read this book.Somehow 'Prettygirl Mylapore' sounds to me like an oxymoron.).She is Intelligent(Intelligent girl a?.. that too from Mylapore..a!!?.Believe me.. I have stayed in Mylapore for nearly 2 decades ... It happens only in fiction...) and she is in IIM A. The boy is from Punjab and he also gets stuck up in IIM A.

What to expect next...?

They Love.They Make Love.They want to marry.They want their parents to accept & they do not.He opts for a job in Chennai to woo her parents.He takes tuitons for his brother,arranges for a music concert for her mother and prepares power point presentations for her father.

& They Agree...

Now the couple come to Punjab to woo 'His' parents.She solves a marriage crisis in his family in a smart way and wins over HIS relatives.

& His mother Agrees..

Both parents do not like each other due to cultural differences.She feels His mother insulted her parents.She parts ways with him.(How easy..??).

& He gets mentally disturbed.

As expected his Father makes a twist in the end ,& they end up marrying(In Tamil Brahmin Style)

& She Deliver's TWINS two years hence...
...

Nothing new story wise.(We have seen this in all our movies).BTW who wants story in a Chetan Bhagat Book.?

Here is an Indian Novel writer who does not have a 'Story', who is not 'literary' in the real sense of the word.However..HE does have his 'First Person' Narrative ,the
'One Liners' and a huge dose of Raw "'AAAAAAAAdult'erated" humour content to win over the readers.

We were all waiting for the 'One Liners' that he gave us in 'Five Point Someone'.
He does not disappoint this time. In fact some of them are Terrific !.Wow.. Here are some excerpts !

--> "Why wud any guy want to be friends with a girl? It's like agreeing to be near a Chocolate cake & never eat it. It's like sitting in a racing car but not driving it. Only wimps do that."

-->'Baby, I'm sleepy', she said, trying to pull me back into bed.
'My landlord is here', I said. She didn't respond even though i shook her maniacally.
'Your appa is outside', I said.
She sprang up on the bed. 'What?'

--> This is the Introduction of Ananya.

'I stole a sideways glance -- definitely above average. Actually, well above average. In fact, outlier by IIM-A standards. '
'Ananya Swaminathan -- best girl in the fresher batch,' seniors had already anointed her on the dorm board. We had only twenty girls in a batch of two hundred. Good-looking ones were rare; girls don't get selected to IIM for their looks. They get in because they can solve mathematical problems faster than 99.9 percent of India's population and crack the CAT. Girls like Ananya, if and when they arrive by freak chance, become instant pin-ups in our testosterone-charged, estrogen-starved campus.)

-->Krish:My father never smiled through his wedding.
Ananya:How could he?.He was marrying your mother.

--> Conversation between Manju & Krish. (Manju is Ananya's younger brother for whom Krish takes tuitions).

Manju: "Krish Bhai.. Can something bad happen if you watch blue films?'
Krish: 'If you just watch them?'
Manju: 'Just watching....and' hesitantly,'and if you do something else afterwards.'.
Krish: 'Why dont you ask your Appa?'
Manju: 'Aiyo, what are you saying?".
Krish: 'You could become blind'-with a serious face.
Manju: 'Really'?

-->"Its amazing how in love the vulnerability initially lies with the boys and it gets transformed immediately to girls after the moment they had sex".

-->When Ananya says Krish of how she got she rid of Harish(Her to be Fiancee)

Ananya:He hinted at my virginity...
krish: Wat did u say?
Ananya: if there was an entrance for virginity test, u can be sure I would never top it!!

-->
'You are from two different states, right? so, what will be their state?" the nurse said and chuckled."." They'll be from a state called India, " I said.

-->
Krish:'If all young people marry outside their community,it is good for the country.That is the great purpose'.
Ananya: "oh,so the reason you sleep with me is for the sake of your country?"

-->" It is fascinating to see a sardar-ji speak in Tamil.LIKE SUN TV'S MERGER WITH ALPHA TV"

--> After the Scene at Rathna Stores T Nagar.
Krish:'You shoudn't have kissed me there.why did u do it??
Ananya: Because I couldn't help it,you are irresistible sometimes'.
Alright Mrs swaminathan if your daughter can't resist me,there is no way you can either.

-->Pretty Girls behave best when you ignore them (Of course, they have to know you are ignoring them, for otherwise,they may not even know you exist).

-->She looked at me. "Can you eat this?" she wanted to know. "Try it." I took a spoonful of sambhar. Warm and salty, not gourmet stuff, but edible in a no-choice kind of way. I could eat it for lunch; I had stayed in a hostel for four years.
However, I saw her face, now prettier with a hint of pink. I compared her to the fifty-year-old mess worker. He wore a lungi and had visible grey hair on his chest.
"It's disgusting," I said. When in doubt, the pretty girl is always right.

.....
Chetan Bhagat probably will never win a 'Booker' Prize. However he is making people who do not read novels read them and thats an achievement.

You'll surely enjoy this book if :
-->You are from Chennai (though you have to digest some racist attacks)
&
Even more if :
-->You are from Mylapore.
&
Much more if:
-->You are a Brahmin.

&

I am all Three.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Awesome Threesome..

"Hey.. adhu engalluku reserved"..

Kumar was referring to himself ,Vinod & Vignesh. They were the last benchers in my class( Plus one & Plus two). They simply would not let anyone else occupy those positions.The 'havoc' they created during school days were truly amazing.

Vinod was the shortest among the three. His favorite teacher was MKG (physics) though he had never attended her class. The fights between MKG & Vinod rite in the middle of the corridor would evoke instant laughter.Like this one..
MKG:- Why are you in colour dress?
Vinod:- What bothers u ?
MKG :- Ippadi pesina , Seeviduven..
Vinod:- Naan kuda thaan seeviduven... He took out a small comb from his pocket and started combing his hair... (You must have seen MKG's Face..)

I still remember his birthday during class XII.Kumar , Myself and Vinod were late to school. The prayer had already began.After the prayer , the PT master Mr JD(His name is Ramdoss.. we changed it as Jollu Das.. & hence JD) was noting down the names of the late comers. As usual I was not wearing my shoes.He saw it and asked me to go home. It was then Vinod took out his packet of chocolates and showed it to him. Sir ... "Ungalluku chocolate vaanga poi thaan sir late ayiduchu..Inthanga sir.. Eduthukonaga sir...".. JD took two... "Sir.. naalu anchy edunga sir... ".. He took out the chocolates and said.."Inimella late a varaadinga da.. Ponga.."
Sir shoes... ?? -- 'parava illa da.. Nalaiku pottutu va.."... We were allowed inside..(We learnt the art of bribing way back)...

Kumar was probably the best movie critic around that time for me personally and for our class as a whole. One had to just ask an opinion about the latest release.. If he says ..Trash it.. We would .. If he says Watch it .. We would... Probably Kumar was even more known for his snide comments.It comes with such terrific timing that would even invoke instant laughter to the person being attacked.When the entire class got promoted to class XII. He gave us a treat... The reason he told was "Enga kudumbathiliye naan daan tha romba padichiruken.."..Now he is doing MBA.

He is also known for the 'bulbs' he receives .Vikram's Saamy had released and Trisha was a sensation. We were discussing about her and someone said she studied at 'Ethiraj' College. Kumar(With Sheer Ignorace)said..."naan kuda antha college thaan padikallamnu irukken".. You can imagine what happened next..

He once explained the meaning of DIMS kattai..(after that Jothika song became famous).. Though I dont remember the exact words he used.. The examples he showed still remains fresh. He would take us to every class in school and show a girl who looked like DIMS kattai..He would put marks to girls and even the school's best could not cross 5 on 10. When quizzed.. He would say.. "The quality is reducing day by day.."

R Vignesh(R) stayed along with his aunt who was also a teacher at our school. He was the most silent among the three or deemed to be so.Vignesh did not opt for maths and took tamil instead. Kumar left maths in middle of class XI (after a chapter called complex numbers) and took Tamil.So he accompanied 'R' to the tamil class.

The tamil class had about 10 students consisting of 3 girls from biology group. The three girls were Aruna,Aparna and Nithya.. Aruna and Aparna were identical twins.One cannot differentiate between them.Probably the most terrific achievement of 'Kumar' in tamil class was finding out who was 'Aparna' and who was 'Aruna'. The pervert in him had noticed some physical 'attributes' of them for easy identification.Many boys who had crushes on those two girls came to Kumar for help for identifying who's who?. He however did not share the secret with all.

'R' however was not bothered about the twins. His focus remained with the person who always accompanied the twins.Yes.... He had a serious crush on Nithya..He would write poems (which were unbearable)all day in his notebook. He would follow her incognito to all the places she went.One and a half years he had remained silent and he proposed to her sometime during the middle of class XII. She said some bad words to him and rejected him outright.He was dejected. We all went to his home to 'console' him.

After consoling him for nearly two hours, he became sort of OK..He switched on the Radio...The song playing was.. "Pani vizhum malar vanam... Un paarvai oru varam..... ... Inivarum munivarum.. thadumaraarum thanimaram...ey ey..inivarum munivarum... thadumaarum.. ".... We were all listening to it. The song finished.
The Radio Jockey then spoke... " Ippodu neenga ketta paadal idaipetra thiraipadam 'Ninaivellam Nithya'..."..
All of us except 'R' burst out laughing... He broke the Radio..

"Machan.. English teacher engala paarthu edho kettai vaarthaila thitraanga da.. Onnume Puriyala... " - Kumar and Vinod were explaining to me.
"What did she say??" - I asked.
"Edho sonnanga da.. Mustardna kadugu thane.??. Engala Mustardnu sonnanga da.."

I was wondering why would one call them as 'Mustard'.I approached our English teacher and asked her what she had commented on them.She said since they three were roaming together always , she had commented'Three Musketeers'.

That in a way sums up Kumar , Vinod and R.. The Awesome threesome...!!!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Simply the best..

I'll give you reasons (with some examples) why I am a Kamal Fan.

The examples that I am going to quote are from his Latest movie Unnai Pol Oruvan.This is a film in which he exposes some of his intelligence for us to find out the inner meaning unlike Hey Ram(on which I can speak for 5 hours non-stop or may be even do a do a Thesis.)or Dasavatharam (on which I can speak for two hours)where the films are full of Intelligence wanting to be grabbed.

Now..Lets see what 'Unnai Pol Oruvan' seeks to offer.

Refresh you memories.. Let's play a game.. (this is for those who have watched the movie)

If you already knew the points I have quoted by seeing the movie , rate yourself with 1 point.If you had heard it from someone, rate yourself 1/2. If you are knowing this for the first time , obviously rate yourself with a ZERO.

Be honest..

Lets start..

TEN Things I Bet you would not have noticed in Unnai Pol Oruvan.
(I'll be very happy if you prove me wrong)
We'll start with easier ones..

1)(I think you will know this)Musharaff and Bush puppet conversation.Musharaff calls Bush on September 10th 2001 and not September 10th any other year. Top comedy..

2)Terrorist Abdullah taking a dig at Narendra Modi. "Gujaratla Modi Patha theriyum , Gaali Panniduvanga". Terrorist Abdullah in fact is making a reference to "Best Bakery Case" in the above dialogue.(just refer to the case if you have time, you will understand)


3)Kamal:-'Mahatma Gandhi was ambidextrous'.Unfortunately I am his fan too.Enakkum Edhadu-Valadhu bedham Kadayaadu..except unfortunately ezhudapodhu thaan..'- Kamal once again proving he is a pseudo-communist.


4)Mohanlal :- Anything that is Lawful ?
Kamal :- Laughs..
Mohanlal :- What..?
Kamal :- Its an Inside Joke.I have many in laws.
Abdhu'law',Ahamadu'law',Inayatu'law' & karamchand 'law''law'.
(Wow what a dialogue)!

Is the going getting tough to score..??

5)Again Musharaff and Bush Conversation.(This is shown inside a Jail where a
constable is watching the programme).

Natasha :- Is Pakistan committed to rooting out terrorism ?
Musharaff:- Yes.. Yeh Mera 'Taliban'..oops.. Yeh Mera Abhiman hai..
( A dig at Musharaff.. Superb comedy).


6)Kamal while speaking in that 'karu varuthal' scene.
Kamal:- 'Apa andha ponnuku dress koduka endha Ramakrishnanum, Lal krishnanum , Radha Krishnarum varala...(Obvioulsy a dig at Lal Krishna Advani).

7)"Cut the green and connect red and blue."-.Kamal says this dialogue when he explains how to defuse a bomb.(Give importance to colours , you will understand.)

8)Again.. Kamal after speaking the 'karuvaruthal' scene , wipes the tears with the Gun.A clear message'Terrorism to be attacked by Terrorism'.

9)His digs at our CM.
Mohanlal:- Nee kupadra koralukkalam CM varanumnu edhir paarkiriya?
Kamal :- 'Election apa sonnanga.. Parava illa , avangalam Bomb vedicha aparam
varatum'
Then..
Mohanlal:- 'CM paathukittu irupparu.. tell in tamil."

Mohanlal:- "CM will not speak... Chief secretary will not speak..
Who am I ? Police Commissioner - Nothing but a glorified constable. Naan pali aadu..You are welcome to my funeral.

10)My favorite... All the 'bags' that Kamal keeps at different places will be embossed with the letters.." I Love INDIA "..(Notice it the next time you see the movie.)

How much have you scored.. ??
a)10-10 (Impossible.. unless you are Me)
b)7.5-9.5(You must be his fan..You Watch Movies with some purpose. Kudos)
c)4.5-7.00(You have to improve.. You have all the capabilites of being a kamal Fan)
d)1.5-4.00(You are just not there.. U like different movies but U are not fit to be a kamal fan)
e)0.00-1.5(Your favorite films 'Vettaikaran' , 'Jaganmohini' are around the corner..Please dont disturb us..)

Someone recently asked me..."Why Kamal ? Why are you his Fan?".
I replied ... " He is Simply the Best around"..

P.S.
People have asked me about the article by 'Nani' in Kumudham..
I have seen lots of these nuisance makers..All I can Say is..
"Mr Chani.. oops..Nani .. Get Well Soon"...

Saturday, September 12, 2009

The Rajini Fan in me...

Being an ardent Kamal Devotee..(I have replaced the word 'Fan' with the word 'devotee' long back).. everyone expects me to be a Rajini hater. Well not surprisingly..I hate Rajini Movies.. However.. There are some movies/scenes in which I have completely adored the actor Rajini. Please watch this scene from the movie Johnny.WOW...!!! (In my opinion one of the best scenes in Indian Cinema).



Are you SpellBound..?? Well you must.. Everytime I watch this scene , I get goosebumps.There is magic in this scene.There's a distance between the couples but there exists a 'chemistry' too.( Well for all those dance shows..Pl watch.. This is chemistry..)..

Many things contribute to the Magic in this scene..

a) Music by Illayaraja.
b) Performance of Sridevi.(especially.. when she says.."naan appadithan pesuven").
c) Mahendran's Direction.
d) Dialogues.
e) They lead pair do not touch each other..

For me the highlight about this scene is the acting of Rajini. (The expression of 'not being comfortable' and the way he brings out the uneasiness with Sridevi besides him is simply Top class..!)

Rajini .. Take a bow..!!

Well Rajini's acting ability can never be doubted.However we all know what choice he made later in his career.

Friday, September 04, 2009

An Uncle’s Sluggish Sunday Distress

'This' is something that disturbed me recently. (Ah..I am able to see all your faces giving 'Oh No. Not again !' kind of expression!!). Why is this guy always complaining...??.. Well.. we'll settle that issue later. This one is not so serious. In fact Ignorable. The Issue was/is..

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon.It was then I took a bath and came near the entrance half naked to find my towel which was being dried on the rope tied at the verandah.( Well I woke up at 1 pm and reluctantly took bath at 2pm). The half yellow half green leaves of the tree (the name of which I don't know) were falling on the mud stained ( also called as 'seru' in tamil..) Verandah.(Translation is tough!!).The Black Iron gate at the entrance which had rusted at its bottom was half open.It swayed ever so gently in to and fro manner often accompanied by a creaking sound.The bright rays of the sun hit my half open eyes as I struggled to gather my vision and find the towel.It was then I heard that beautiful sound.

The Sound of Ball hitting the bat.I Peeped over the entrance to catch a glimpse of the 'street cricket' that was happening.I heard my mom's voice calling me.I said to myself ..(One more.. Get that outside the off stump.. he'll miss the line.).. Well he did get that outside the off stump but the batsman simply did not miss the line of the ball but hit it high in the air.The loop of the ball formed an hyperbola.(I am poor at maths.. It mite even be a parabola or even worse a straight line). It rose high in the air and landed beside me.It went Thud into the mud and did not bounce.I noticed that the green cover of the tennis ball was coming of.The bowler came gate crashing into my home. He was stout , wearing sleeveless shirt.He looked to me as a talented cricketer. I stood observing him.

(well pardon me... trying my best.. I am poor at descriptive writing..(even writing , some would say))....

Well coming to the issue.. That was when that boy called me " Uncle , Please get the ball.".An Earthquake occurred.Uncle a?.Ada paavi. I stood gaping at him.He said once more. "Uncle Fast.. Get the ball.. He's running the second run.".(True.. He spoke in English). I took the ball and threw it to him. He caught the ball with his both palms facing the sky.( Aussie influence). I was consoling myself. Maybe he is too young..?.. I turned to go inside my home when that boy called me once again."Uncle , It would be helpful if you move the bike parked outside the gate. It is affecting my run up."

Damaged twice.These are the days you regret your physical appearance.I sat down and analysed why he called me as Uncle.

a)May be because of my HIP size ?.I still don't know whether that is the real reason. My hip size growing in Arithemetic proportion only.From 32 in class XII to 37 now.. (An Inch for an Year..)..

b)Maybe because I was half naked ?.(Knowing all your wild imaginations. I will clarify.I was dressed like Gandhi).I looked like Gandhi.His History lessons came into his mind and hence he called me uncle as a matter of respect.

c)May be I was unshaven.? (It had been three weeks of hair. Not like TR by any means).

d)That boy was too young.(Yes He was..)

e) This one is mokkai..May be he liked Uncle Chips a lot.? ( Well Why not..?? That word might have been there in his subconscious mind...)

f)I look matured. ( Now don't Laugh.Alas.. I think this is the reason)

PICK your choice. I really want to know why he called me an Uncle.( Goyale.. My age is 21 only)..


P.s. If you were yawning while reading my post, I have achieved my objective.Well Did I not say it was a Lazy Sunday afternoon...??? I am proud that I got that lazy mood into you.(ha ha...I am clever. Is it not??)

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Rakhi o Phobia ... !

Its Rakhi season once again !!!(of course.. in more than one way)...

I still remember the good old days in school where we 'boys' would run away from 'girls' for the fear of being tied with 'Rakhi'.I was studying class 3 then.. Now.. Don't get angry..We were early starters..We younger generation have high levels of testosterone I suppose.. ( I began to cut school on Raksha bandhan day from the following year.i.e from class four onwards.. he he...).

It is truly pathetic and heartbreaking when your 'crush' brings the 'thread' and asks you to extend your right hand. You try very hard to wriggle out of that situation. The entire class would watch the proceedings. So if you go away, you will be deemed to be her 'boy' and getting on with a conversation later with your 'crush' becomes a herculean task(since you need to give the reason for not extending your hand and the rumour mill starts ).

And if you do extend your hand , you are heartbroken. The rumours surrounding your relationship with your 'crush' dies down dramatically and it hurts. (since you dont want someone else to occupy that position , for its yours and its booked. For the rumours help you to be booked.)

Another thing that adds to the 'thrill' of Raksha Bandhan day is that it almost often comes within one week of 'Friendship Day'. During school days , people would tie friendship bands to each other. So what??You would be elated one day , that 'she' has accepted to be your friend and one week later you would be 'heart burned'.This is a 'substantive and conclusive' evidence by which 'who's for whom??' gets decided. Four situations normally arise.

a)If your 'she' ties the friendship band and subsequently a week later ties the 'Rakhi' , the 'society' will pass a 'resolution' that you are not her 'man'. You are thoroughly disappointed.

b)If your 'she' ties the friendship band and later does not tie the 'Rakhi'.. Hooray... you are her 'man'.. , the 'society' will 'book' you for 'her' and you are happy..

c)If your 'she' does not tie the friendship band but lovingly ties the 'Rakhi'.. .That is the end of the world for you.. (unless you are David Copperfield)

d)If your 'she' neither ties the friendship 'band' nor ties the 'Rakhi'.. Hmmm.. may be you are not in 'focus' at all.. but it still gives you a glimmer of hope..

All the permutation and combination come into play. The result of Who's Who is always decided in the first week of august and it will remain to be so for the entire year ( unless of course something substantial happens in between).. This is highly crucial because , people would be always on 'R.A.C' waiting for a split between the 'pair'.Most Importantly , There would be a common 'Code of Conduct' imposed.

a)One is not supposed to 'talk' often with a 'Booked' 'Crush'.
b You are supposed to be in only one R.A.C category. Multiple 'bookings' are not accepted.
c)If you are 'confirmed' , you are supposed to be Loyal and not change 'tracks'.
d)If you are voluntarily retiring from your 'She', you must make it 'public' and wait for 2 months before you 'Book' again.
Etc.. Etc..

If you are not complying with the common Code of Conduct, there would be severe consequences such as :-
A) Free Complaint to Class Teacher.
B) Anonymous letters to your 'She'.
C) Your 'She' being transferred to the next person in R.A.C. by the 'society'
Etc.. Etc..

The Drama is high and is truly Enjoyable..If you were not part of Co-Education , You have missed something in life..

--- By a 'Rakhi' Affected Boy..[My 'She' tied Rakhi to me in school ':(']

P.S.
Well.. Since the blog is about 'Rakhi' , I mite as well say about 'Rakhi sawant' and that idiot Elesh.(Well... How can one choose Rakhi Sawant...?.Pathetic.. YUCK..!!). Hello Mr Elesh , Ask Ms Rakhi Sawant to tie 'Rakhi' to you on 5th of August. You will live happily..!!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Teachers,Professors,Staff and Myself(Part II)

Continued from....
Teachers,Professors,Staff and Myself(Part I)...

The Thrill and Fun

Out of School.However Back to School.(Sorry.. I cannot term Vivekananda College as a 'college').Life after schooling is fun. No uniforms.No Homework.No need to go at 9 am.(My coll timings were from 4pm to 8pm).No need to wear shoes.No need to polish them.No need to wear socks(I hate socks!)and most importantly no need to Tuck in.
Perhaps , the happiest part of being at a college is the fun of bunking it and going to movies.The joy of bunking classes and subsequently altering the attendance gives us tremendous thrill and happiness.

Any college student would also tell you the most happiest moment in a class is derived by giving /receiving 'proxy' attendances.Mass Bunking is special.The way the idea creeps in and the spread of the virus is amazing. 'Dae bore adikkudu da... Variya beachku pogalam'..'illa da , attendance kammi..'...'Paravailla vada...polam...avanuku kooda thaan attendance illa...avan varaan illa...unakku enna.. romba scene podama vaa..'The poison is slowly inserted into every one in the class. Then eventually everyone is convinced and the last two hours ( 6 to 8) is spent at the Beach. Mass bunks are dangerous too.. As we found out...

I was Rusticated ... Well Almost...

August 25th 2006

I still remember that day.. It was a wet day..
I was angry (you may wonder when I have been normal) that I could not get the first day first show ticket to my Aandavar Movie.. Vettaiyadu Vilayaadu

Eventually we got tickets at Abhirami for the day's second show.(i.e Matinee). Since the original noon show which was to begin at 11 am that day got postponed by 1 hr,the matinee show began by 3 pm only. We had mass bunked not entirely though. Our row was absent.

I still remember the scene. "Raghvan.. Naan mattum dhaan unna kaapatha mudiyum.. Inba vaa... Namba pogalam.. " My cell vibrated. I ignored. It Vibrated again. Someone was making continuous calls.(Kamal had jumped of the window by then).. I saw a message. It read. "Macha... You all suspended..HOD has asked you all to come and meet him in the evening" .It did not jolt me too much ,for I thought it would be a prank.(Jo was beside Kamal at the hospital)...

The movie got over. We went to US( the tea shop at the other side of Round Tana). It was true. We were suspended for a week by our HOD for mass bunking and going to movie.We met him and gave an apology letter which he did not consider at all.He picked up the attendance and drew out a horizontal line against each of our names for the entire week.

We came out depressed. So what did we do the next five days?? We would start from home by 4 pm and go to park , beach , movie ( we watched VV once again @ sathyam).. Passing that week was very tough.. 5 hrs suddenly in the evening seemed to be 5 yrs... It was fun nevertheless...

During the second year , There was more fun.. Why??
We were the instigating force behind a historic moment in our college life.. THE STRIKE...

to be continued... (Coz my eyes are drooping beyond control)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Are we forgetting Something ??

How nice it is to a have a glimpse from the other side.The Same event from different angle.By being empathetic,we might as well try to be happy with honesty, integrity, manners, patience, giving, helping, sharing.

Anger is a natural human emotion, which aids the fight or flight mechanism we experience when danger is perceived. The problem is not anger itself; the problem is how we manage our anger. Too often, uncontrolled anger becomes a habit, and our normal way of interacting with those around us.

No amount of excuses can be supportive of bad behaviour ( Surely..I am ashamed of myself). Resentment is a form of anger that does more damage to the holder than the offender.I call it a habit because it is a habitual way of behaving and responding to circumstances of which I disapprove. It is not 'how I am' - it is 'how I react'.You may feel that you are in the RIGHT when you get angry. But the key is this: does it make you HAPPY? Does it contribute towards your happiness and that of the people around you?.NO.

There's also a blow to our peace of mind of endlessly going over events, re-running them and re-feeling the feelings over and over again! And each day watching for all the opportunities to feel annoyed.The worst part of getting angry is repenting about it later. Our self esteem suffers - we afterwards feel bad with ourself because of how we've let ourselves down and lost control.

We feel bad about how others view you. Our family,friends tend to treat us with caution, because they cannot relax in our company but have to remain on guard, waiting for the next explosion. Then there's all the apologising and making up - 'I'm sorry. I'll never do or say that again, I promise!' And no one believes you.Pathetic.

An angry man is again angry with himself, when he returns to reason.After an angry exchange you can be affected for hours or even days as you endlessly go over the event in your mind, churning up the anger feelings and adding to them. And during this period your mood is being ruled by the memory of the person with whom you are angry. You are not in charge. You are a victim of the event.

Anger consumes huge amounts of mental and physical energy, takes from our enjoyment of life, interferes with constructive and useful thinking, threatens our relationships, undermines our self esteem and, in extremes, can obsesses us that it crowds most other thoughts from our minds.

In my case ,The first reaction I always give is an over-reaction. The belief that once I get my way on this matter, I'll be happy is an illusion. The need to control is wide spread in the life of an angry person. It never is in just one area or with one person. This means an angry person is living his life like an active volcano, erupting all over the people they care about most...

I am an uncontrollable person when I am 'angry'.. I am a person who bangs his head sometimes with palm..mostly on a wooden door...I Punch the wall with my fists.. Throw tantrums.. Rip papers..Throw things around.. Lol.. Funnier things have happened...

So what is the Cure..? Mediation , yoga... Art of living.. etc...etc.. NO... All Bullshit according to me...It only adds to further Anger...The real solution is very simple and available with all of us but we use it very rarely because we often forget it..

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Hey... We(I) often forget to LAUGH !

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

The Black Gilderoy Lockheart who is not quite charming

Mr.K.Nithyanandam M.Com ( GOLD medalist ), M.Phil,. .. an all-rounder in all subjects .. Motivating force of Vivekananda College, who has a pucca network information system. Even if you breathe he'll GET INFORMATION !! His standard dialogues " nee sound kudutha ennakku news vandhdum " and " enna nee NON-SENSE aatum pesikite irruka ".. One cannot figure him out and no one will be able to identify him if he is near the black board. Guys ...NITHU ROCKS...

Nithyanandam handled accounts and banking papers in my Bcom II and III respectively.Nithu brings back happy memories not because he was a great teacher but he provided us with ultimate comic relief. His punch dialogues were simply the best and often is the hot news in the campus and that's the precise reason for this post. I want to share with you all the genius of Nithu...

Here we go.. Pick your favorite..

--> "If I tell your name to HOD , I'll get a Good name , you will get a Bad name."

--> "Edo nee enna emathara nu nenaikkaada, i`ll get information within 48hrs"

--> "Dei If u go to bar .. they will bar you... "

--> "solve the problem.. Dont be the problem"

--> "i will give u one chance and that is the only chance"

--> "rectify don't justify"

--> "I have brought a brand new second hand phone"

--> "fear don't interfere"

--> "if u r talking wen im talking, u wil be walking.."

--> "Answer the question, dont question the answer"

--> "be an athlete and not obsolete"

--> "Shoot Panna Basket ball... Shot adicha cricket Ball..that is the difference"

--> "if you dont know, dont say dont know "

--> definition of "VIVA" exam?
Student:-Sir VIVA exam naa enna??
Nitthu: Adavathu vaa...vanthu THESIS BINDING a Vai....ithu vanthu VAAVAI....athu vanthu VIVA...... (ever heard such a definition for viva exam??)

and My favorite...

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Ganapathy ( my classmate) to Nithu:-'Sir, Neenga Brian lara Maadhiri irukeenga sir...'

Nithu Replies (shaking his head in disagreement) :- 'Naan Lara maadhiri illa ,Lara thaan enna maadiri irukkan.. (and followed by his wry smile..)'

The real fun always starts after he utters his punch dialogues. The expression he gives thinking that he has said something extraordinary.He is master of english, the wizard of words,always has his magical touch...Nithu is special.(He even asked Shravan once to be a spy and give report)...

Nithu a.k.a annachi a.k.a idiamin a.k.a Dwyane Bravo a.k.a all in all azhagu raja a.k.a 'The Black Gilderoy Lockheart who is not quite charming' will always remain in our memory forever..

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

'Pappu , Chuchu and Severe Famine'

'Pappu can't dance sala'... Who bothers..???

After all..

'Pappu' is spectacular,
'Pappu' has blue eyes.. wears Rado watch...
& sprays 'Gucci' perfume..

No one dares him now..
Wow.. Gone are the days of 'Pappu'.'Pappu' is a thing of past....

Now we have from our own Chennai ('pappu' belonged to Mumbai na..)a type of creature(s) known as 'Chuchu'. ( Name obviously inspired from someone I know)..

Let's see some characteristics of 'Chuchu'..

-->a 'Chuchu' studies well..
-->a 'Chuchu' never brushes teeth..
-->a 'Chuchu' pours advices when not required or asked for..
-->a 'Chuchu' puts scene..
-->a 'Chuchu' wants to be the centre of attraction..
-->a 'Chuchu' always has phlegm in his nose..
-->a 'Chuchu' unfortunately is not smart to look..
-->a 'Chuchu' does not know the meaning of being reticent..
-->a 'Chuchu' is a boy..(conclusion arrived after long discussions)..
-->a 'Chuchu' thinks he knows everything..

and most importantly...

The 'girl' friends of 'Chuchu' are all No 1 'ATTU' pieces..(a.k.a Sotha figure a.k.a dummy piece). These 'Attu's put over scene... They think they know everything... They talk a lot.. talk a hell lot.. They are worst type of 'jollu' parties...(even worse than 'Nandanam Arts' Boys..)It is said 'Attoda attagaasam Asin tha vida mosam..'(The Ramblings of Attu pieces are worse than Asin's Ramblings..!) Over make up podum'(already Romba kandraaviya irukkum)...Suppose..If they ever stop gossiping and sighting too much... They would not be part of this category..

Remember what vadivel says in 'Kadhalan'?? He classifies as-
a)Jill (Nice..!)
b)Jung (Bitter..!)
c)Juck (Yuck.. !)

No prizes for guessing.The friends of a 'chuchu' are all the worst among the 'c' category mentioned above.There would be a stiff competition to choose the worst among them if they ever take part in some kind of 'Ugly' contest.

Rajinikanth in one of his films would say.." nenachadu kadaikellana , kadachada vechi sondashama iru .." (If you are not getting what you desire... Be happy with what you get...!).Rajinikanth probably said it in a different context.

A 'Chuchu' interprets it differently.He chooses the dummy pieces since he is not able to lay hands on any 'Jill' or even a 'jung'.Bring this point to him .. He gets angry.. "Machan ... Naan thane avangaloda sutharen... Unakku enna...??"( What bothers You ?)....Ask him his cell phone.. He does not give it.. Ask him why ?.. He says personal messages.. ( aiyo kandraavi)...

A 'Chuchu' is always the only boy accompanying 5 to 6 'attus' anywhere.. The worse part is he chooses the 'attest' (of the 'attu' group of friends) as his 'Girl Friend'. A 'Chuchu' gets public humiliation when travelling with his 'attu'.He is respected only by the way his partner looks.. Since she looks ugly.. You know how is he treated.. When you call 'chuchu' for playing cricket , he refuses by saying he is busy.. Busy where...?? In some road side corner...in some fruit juice shop..

He is so loyal to his friends.. When you advise him to not roam along with them.. He replies.."Naan avanga pinnadi suthala da.. avanga thaan en pinnadi sutharaanga.." (I am not roaming behind them. They are only roaming behind me..!).That was the endpoint for me to advise him.. A 'Chuchu' thinks he is a 'Manmada kunju'.(Son of Manmadhan - God of Love.... Don't interpret otherwise..)

The behaviour of such 'Chuchu's' are understandable. This country (atleast chennai) is at present struck with a huge 'famine' of 'Good Ones' a.k.a 'Jill's'.
Railway station .. Bad.. Women's colleges .. Bad.. Bus stops.. Bad.. Cinema theatre.. Worse.. ( all these chuchu's end up there with their respective attu's...)..

Everywhere you go.. You find only attu's..Even 'Good Catchment' areas like Mylapore , West Mambalam ( Report Contributed by Matador) and Nanganallur ( Report Contributed by Shravan) are facing severe 'Scarcity'....

When is this dearth, destitution, drought, misery, paucity, poverty,starvation, want ,absence, default, defect, deficiency, famine, inadequacy, infrequency, lack, meagerness, paucity, poverty, privation, shortage, want, exiguousness, rareness, scantness, slim pickings, sparsity... and the list goes on.....going to end...???

It is apt to end this post by a prabhu deva song that righly says.. "April mayile pasumaiyile kaanchi pochu da... indha oorum pudikala , ulagam pudikala .. bore bore da... Idhu thevaiyaa.. ada ponga ya... "

The worst part is it is the beginning of July.... But.... The 'Scarcity' still continues........................................................................
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- By an 'Attophobic' , 'Famine' affected , 'Hungry' boy...

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Of GOD and Haywire..

There are several ways by which atheism can lay its foundations in an Individual.
My basic thought into atheism came at a very tender age of 10.It was around that time that I asked my mom a question that no child should ask especially at that age.

I asked her 'How are babies born'?

She hastily replied.(May be she was quite prepared for such a question long time back knowing my character.I was told much later that I was fond of sitting near girls during my kintergarden.)She said "Couples pray to God during the marriage ceremony and he grants child". I was convinced totally until..

I heard Karunanidhi had a son named Stalin. Karunandhi sounded to me as a Hindu Name. Stalin sounded foreign ... It was christian.The name had a Russian feel to it.( Thanks to History). Those were days when I thought there were only 3 religions in the world and I thought Hindus were the majority. (due to the sheer number of Gods).

Later that day , I found out that Stalin's mom was not a Christian. Then why such a name?.I had to clear that doubt.It was then I asked one of my cousins. He was 8 months younger to me.He said Karunanidhi was an Atheist. What ?. He then explained.
'Atheist are those people who proclaim there is no God.They have no concept of religion and hence those people do not have any restriction on naming their child and hence the name Stalin.Oh.. I gawped.. I was 10 . He was 9 and a half. We were discussing not about video games , not about Super Human Samurai , not about Shaktimaan , but about Atheism.!

I could not come to terms with such a shocking news that there could be people who were not into any of these 3 religions.My mom had said to me that people pray to God for babies to be born.How could Karunanidhi ( an athiest ) have a child ?. He surely could not have prayed God if he was an Athiest.

I could not think GOD was generous.He was granting children to those people who were not believing in Him. How come??. If atheist's had children , why where they not praying God?.All sort of confusions crept in. All day I would think about GOD ...Is he there , ??

Time passed by...

Years later .. I meet KD.. My real first tutor in terms of 'you know what' education. Class 6 or Class 7. By passing reference one day he said 'Man is a Animal' which made me think a lot.Very simple.But truly shocking. He said several things about atheism during class 10 and I think he is completely one by now.
He simply said he did not belive in God because he said he did not require him.His arguments were rational, logical and acceptable.However for me it lacked depth.I felt atheism was relying more on a single point and trying to focus too much on demerits of theism.

The beauty was , the more he moved to atheism , I moved away from it. From a distance I could respect it. Being near it had made me understand it. However , I did not believe in it.

I thought so simply because , an Atheist always has a doubt whether he or she is firm believer in GOD.No such doubts for a Theist. When Kamal says 'Kadavul illa nu sollale... Kadavul Irundha naala irukkumnu solraen '.. It means he is at cross roads. He is confused himself whether he believes in it are not.(Nevertheless, I am not an athiest like Kamal because Kamal himself is my God..Ha ha..)

I believe firmly in God. I believe in him simply because I believe he gives me the right choices rather makes me to make the right choices. I have always believed there is no better place than the place that you are right now. He is giving me the best. He must be God. HE is GOD.

About 2 years ago I was fine .But GOD is also known to be fickle.

It is in this last two years that I have had my worst moments of life. I was termed inefficient( may be I am.. I don know ).I was stripped of my confidence.I had self doubts. I was constantly evaluating myself with my peers.

The worst part..

I had to come to terms with agreeing that my peers were much more talented than me.(absolutely the opposite to what had been 2 years back..I was the 'King' at college.Now I am a 'Pauper').The belief that I could handle any thing had gone. I had and have fears.Here is where I developed a irritation towards 'Confident' people who never accept their errors.I could not bear to see a 'Confident' person committing an error and getting off.

Not even during my school days (I was the worst in academics) that I bothered about my peers being superiors to me. I knew that if I put my backside to one place and study , I could beat them all Hands Down...! Where is that confidence now..? Where is that arrogance Now ? . All melted. I want confidence and where else would I go ?

Every single day .. Believe me every single day , I have two different opinions or advices thrown on me on a similar subject. What is so unique ? Both are totally opposites. One person in the morning asks me to cram , another person in the evening asks me not to cram.. One person in the morning asks me to Eat well, the same person in the evening says I have to reduce my weight...Where will I go ? -

Which to choose ?. I had so far believed that God has made me my choice.Now I have to.. It is really confusing.. whichever path I choose , I belive the Zenith will remain at the same place... I have come for Pit Stop...( I don't know whether it is for Repairs or it is for Refueling)..

GOD carry me along through this tough phase ..

To God - ' There is nothing in this world that you and I cannot handle it together'.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Angels and Demons -Surely an Angel

Believe me.. Angels and Demons - The Movie is seriously good.Its greatest strenght is the insertion of Fiction into Facts.(like Hey Ram - Biography and Fiction.)

One has to understand that the beauty of any great book can never be captured as such on screen.It is an inherent limitation and nothing can be done about it.The book is always more riveting , more interesting because it leaves us with our own imaginations. However , while it is being made as a film , its done from one man's perspective ( The Director). Indeed, The most interesting part of watching these book - adapted movies are the situations when your view and the director's interpretation clash.(My personal opinion , Da Vinci Code was a great film , people never understood it and hence never liked it)

After reading this book A & D ( around 2 years back) , I for one thought that this book can never be made as a film simply because the entire movie is based at Vatican and certainly the Catholics would not grant permission.For me personally , making such a film is in itself a great achievement. Why bother about the minor defects?

Some Great Scenes in the Movie

a)The Antimatter Explosion
If one watches closely , all the 7 major colors come out during that scene.The amount of energy released is beautifully captured.A Visual treat.

b) The Making of the Antimatter
10 pages in the book is made into 1 minute video.It is great work because there has been no compromises made on the scientific explanation of the antimatter.

c) Archives Library ( Lack of Oxygen).
Ron Howard has added the humour quotient at the last part of the scene to make it more interesting. The breaking of the bullet proof glass is excellently captured and the guard's performance in this scene is nothing but great.

d) The Entire Papal Election Scenes
These scenes are simply the best.The process of electing a pope is so well captured. For once you get to see what happens inside the 'conclave'.Truly awesome!

e) Rome , Vatican City and the St Peter's Church
I'll never get a chance to be in Rome or Vatican.. All I can do is to watch this movie and nothing else.The way the city and the church is captured is mind blowing.

Special Point
Believe it or not ! There is no romance between the lead characters !. No unnecessary time wasted.In all these 10 years of watching cinema, its only the second time that I have a seen a movie in which there is no 'Love' involved.(The first film I Saw was the Bicycle Thief)!. Ya you are right.. I am in love with the film because the film is sans love.!!

Slight Deviation from the book is apparent in the movie.
a)In the book the lead characters engage in romance.
b)Robert Langdon does not go to CERN , he comes directly to Vatican instead.
c)The Super Fast Plane is not shown.! That was a dampener!
d)The ASSASSIN is a bespectacled 'nice' man.Quite unlikely in the book where he is a real terror.Another BIG Dampener!
e) The Carmelango goes alone in the CHOPPER. In the book , however he is accompanied by Robert Langdon.

If you have not seen the film , go right now..

Do not believe what the reviewers say and give this movie a skip. Always remember Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder!

Angels and Demons - YOU BEAUTY !

Saturday, May 23, 2009

The SPARK UNPLUGGED !

There are some moments in life you love being a sadist , more so if you become the architect (in this case unintentional)of the sufferings of the party affected. Certainly I do not regret being part of one such 'mischief' , the result of which blew up to immense proportions that I could not have imagined in my wildest of dreams.It happened during my class 12.

There were two factions within the science group( of course without any ideology). On one side was the 'White pig'(hereinafter referred as WP), 'Bombay brought up'(hereinafter referred to as BBP) and Najafgarh boy(hereinafter referred to as NB). The other side had 'Bad No Marks Jokee' (herinafter referred to as BNMJ)' , 'peter drucker(hereinafter referred to as PD)' , 'Deep Mud( herinafter referred to as DM)' Etc etc..

It had been common knowledge that 'WP' and 'BBU' had an affair which came to light by their 'Joint Account' at the 'Bhai shop'. Bhai sold items on debt to students. So if you buy cool drinks with 'Bhai' on debt , he would promptly note it down in his diary against your name column. He would tolerate upto 2 weeks of non payment or Rs 100 whichever was earlier.

We easily knew who had crush on whom by simply checking out which boy cleared the debt for which girl and vice versa. However 'WP' and 'BBU' went a step ahead and created a joint account.Oh what innovation!. Both of them could buy stuff from a single account and both of them could settle the debt to that 'account'.An open proclamation of their relationship indeed.

I guess 'BNMS' had a crush on 'BBU' which caused a rift between 'WP' and 'BNMS' who earlier where close friends.It in the end proved out to be the EP( remember oram po)friendship. I am not exactly sure of the root cause of the problem between those two camps but 'we' made sure that they did not patch up their differences in the future.How sadistic !.

The 'commerce' group is generally given a step motherly treatment in schools.In our case to add to the 'step moms' , we had irritants in the form of students of 'science' group and especially the Computer science group. They did what exactly Manthara did to Kaikeyi. We had been patient enough.It had to burst.

It happened on a fateful afternoon outside the school campus in the parking lot.We managed to sneak out after a test at school. I still remember a 'gang' of six standing around a motorbike and discussing plans to do something mischievous. It was Myself, Rama , Shravan , R , Vinoth and Kumar having round 'bike' conference. The 'board' passed a resolution of removing the 'spark plug' from 'WP''s vehicle. It was Rama who had to remove the spark plug and R had to Watch out . Others had a tough job of keeping quiet.

Rama did it without any fuss.We dispersed.

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'WP' came out of school around 3 PM. She tried starting her TVS Champ for twenty minutes before deciding to drag it to the mechanic shop situated 2 Kms away . I suppose the mechanic told her that it was a clear case of 'sabotage'(for she had no brains).

It all started there. 'WP' thought it was done by the other 'camp'. The other camp were annoyed. Each camp arranged for a 'Goonda' group. There were enormous amount of money spent.If any individual of any camp was caught alone , he or she would be hurt to such an extent that they would not be able write the Board Exams. Each day there would be atleast 3 persons who would do an 'Erik Solheim' and be unsuccessful.

The tension within those two camps was entertaining to the core.The joy of watching them clashing with each other gave us immense pleasure. 'DM' was severely injured in one of the 'battles' and police had come to school and started investigating. The clashes died down a bit during exams and I heard from someone that the Fight is still on!.

Maybe this is what they call as the 'butterfly effect'. A simple act of removing the spark plug caused a huge chaos. All these years , our act has remained a secret. None except the six of us know about it. Here I am posting about it hoping that the two camps never read it.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Oops..

Tomorrow was February 14.

He laughed to himself feeling a twang of a much deserved victory. “HA!” he added, for that extra punch. And so he read.The feeling of victory came down a few notches with every broken rhyme and unfinished thought. There were nearly 25 crumpled sheets in the waste paper bin.And late in the night finally he emptied the bin only to refill it with the sheets in which his handwriting was better. He finally had done it.

The 'learned' Brahmin looked down at the final fruit of his effort – 10 pages of the Devanagiri script. She had stressed it to be handwritten .Oh how she would love it!, he thought.She was the only reason that he was living. He loved her a lot. She was a damsel.

He slept with such satisfaction of having done something so utterly beautiful for someone who mattered so much to him. Tomorrow, he had to give it to her....
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Early morning she dashed into his bed room ; hoping to find it there .
She looked at him. Asleep, with his legs awkwardly sprawled across the bed. How much more imperfect can one get, she mused. How she hated his dressing sense.She looked at the crumpled sheets of paper in the dustbin.She then looked at the papers on the bed neatly folded .She picked it up.She read it.She was not impressed.
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And...
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She left before he woke up.
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When he woke up , he saw that the papers that were kept beside him were missing. A sense of happiness engulfed him.

It was around 8 when he walked to the kitchen to grab a bite before he left for work. As he walked to the refrigerator to get some bread, something on the kitchen counter caught his eye. It was a plate. With a simple sandwich. “Wow! Breakfast! Since when did this happen?!” And below the plate was a note.

It read simply, “You should make your promises more carefully the next time. I know the sandwich is a little stale; I made it at 5 in the morning while you were snoring away like a pig. I’m just being nice to you today because you took efforts to write something..Did I not say to you that it had to be really good. Neway that was a big ask from you."

"I think I'll be just able to manage a 4 on 10 in my internals with this piece of 'you know what'!.I'll never delegate my homework and assignments to you again Dad !"

He had to admit at last.

The Sanskrit essay on love was really Bad.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Kamal Hassan and Sundararaman can't Vote !

Kamal Can't Vote... Rajinik(C)an(')t Votes...(ideally the latter should not have been allowed to vote). Its a real pity that a great thinker and creative person like Kamal Hassan is not being allowed to vote..His name is not in the voter's list.His home at Luz Church Road is listed as a godown in Corporation database.!!

The similar thing happened to me(may be coz I am a Devotee of Kamal).My name has been removed from the Voter List!!. I voted from the same booth last time for the assembly elections.!!. After some heated argument with the poll observers at the polling station, I had to surrender to the inefficiency and Red tapism of the Election Commission of India. What really hurt me was the fact that in the voter's list , I saw the name of my Neighbour who died 5 years back!!. Here I am alive and not eligible to vote in spite of possessing a Valid Voter's ID card.( I must have been allowed to vote at least for keeping that pathetic card safe for the past three and a half years).

Coming to the next issue... I am totally agitated by the way some of the 'educated' vote in this country.One of them I spoke with Said 'I will vote for the winning Horse'. Is this an election or something else?. People here vote for the opposition which is the strongest.They do the negative voting.They do not vote for the person they like but vote for the opponent of the person they do not like. They do so for reasons like Vote splits. All I ask them is why think too much?.Democracy is voting for whom you like.
If there is a vote split , let it be. Its a clear case of Democracy being misunderstood.

I am still not able to get over the anger and disappointment of not able to vote this time.As a Tax payer of this country ( well I pay Indirect Taxes!) I should have got an opportunity to Vote. By Not giving opportunity to Sundararaman and Kamal Hassan , the country has made a big mistake.

On a lighter note , this has once again proved that Kamal and Me are very much similar.(Saying this to myself has been the only consolation for getting over the anger and disappointment of not able to Vote!).

Sunday, May 03, 2009

My Cultural Past

Those were the happiest days of my life. My College days and more particularly the Cultural days.

I entered Vivekananda College without any expectations of cultural events. 'Modern School' (where I did my Senior Secondary) ironical to its name had no cultural events. It had been total opposite to the school I studied ( sorry.. Went) till class X.

Other colleges conducted culturals regularly and we received invitations.The seniors in the college selected the teams. There were no Intra College events. Some juniors did get the nod but there were no proper mechanism to select teams that would represent the college. The first year went by.

Due to my poor marks in the plus 2 board exams , I had to take B.Com Corporate Secretaryship as I did not get the B.Com General Seat. I had often heard that the BCS department in a college received step motherly treatment. It had been no different. whatever I heard was true.However there was a surprise in the second year.

In the second year , entered Mr P.C.(HOD - BCS). He brought about a real change.He organized a BCS committee. The Structure of the committee was fantastic. It consisted of a Department Secretary and various other committees headed and managed by the students themselves. I was part of the editorial committee. We were in charge of bringing out a magazine. It never happened (thanks to our swamiji - Rector of out college.)There was this organizing committee that was to organize intra department cultural events every week and it was decided that the winners were to represent the college at other cultural events.The best thing about this committee was the fact that there was a lot of interaction between the seniors and the juniors.

This was a huge success.I got my chance to represent the college at other cultural events. I still remember my first cultural appearance at Ethiraj College. It was one of their department fest. I participated in 'Crossword' and 'Debug' with Roshit and won the First and Second places respectively. I then participated at creative writing and again won the second prize. To win at my first cultural appearance gave me tremendous confidence. We came overall second at that fest with Stella Maris winning the overall trophy.

3 months later , there came another cultural event at Ethiraj. This was much bigger to the previous one. I will never forget this culturals because we won an event that we were considered to be the poorest.This was Adzap. I can never forget the cheers and applause for our rebuttal session with the judge that day.There entered Kaushik Ganesh, my junior ( who sadly discontinued college after clearing CPT)whose performance that day I can never forget.. This was the culturals which was special to me as it was where won a 'Case-Study' event with a special appreciation from the judge.

A poor season followed. I wasn't winning. The comeback of sorts happened at Madras Christian College. I came second in Stock wars. That was it. My only win for the whole semester. However our college team had become a force to reckon with for the other teams that year. We were increasingly making our presence felt. We came Second in "Deep Woods'(MCC's annual Culturals) that year losing to ethiraj by a small margin. Skit,Street play,ad designing,quiz, you name it we were there.

In the third year , I became the cultural secretary for the department.
I was to decide the teams that would represent the college.I was trying to please everyone with my choice of teams and I think I succeeded.My strategy was very simple. I would send juniors to 'Attu' college culturals such as 'MGR Janaki', 'WCC' etc and retained 'Stella Maris', 'MOP' for the seniors. Thankfully the juniors were not complaining.

On a personal front , the third year was my best. I won every competition I entered.
One of the best came at MOP Vaishnav.It was the event called 'Event Management' named as 'preba gestion'.We had to submit a plan for a Mega Indian cultural event happening outside India. We put our sincere efforts in it and created a PPT and presented it to the judges who were spellbound by it. The other teams were no match to it. We won it. It was my first win as the cultural secretary. The Judges that day were professional event managers. They gave their visiting cards to us and if interested asked us to join them in any of their projects. It was a professional performance from us.

Vismith and myself started winning consistently from then on. We won almost all paper presentation events.My juniors Karthik(JAM) and Srivatsan Hari (For any event) also started winning consistently. Nash and Mahendra were terrific actors. We used 'Amullu' to add 'glamour'.They became the mainstay for onstage events.I was part of the Adzap team not because of my 'acting' ability but for my 'Mokkais' and most importantly for the Rebuttal sessions. We were winning everything.(Coming Second among 26 participants at ethiraj in Adzap is worth mentioning). Arvind, Sunder(there were three Sundar's in my class),Kumaran and Surya won almost all art events.

We were winning alright. However the overall trophy was still eluding us though not for long.

Loyala college culturals clashed with Stella Maris's Culturals during over third year. As we had 'seen' lots of Stella Maris and bored to death, I preferred participating at Loyola. This proved to be a great strategic move. Most good teams opted for Stella for obvious reasons and gave Loyola a miss. We (being intelligent)went to Loyola.

The first day was Loyola's morning college culturals. It was a dream day for us. We won every event that we participated. It was one of 'those' days. The quiz that day was simply amazing. It was simply the best quiz contest that I had attended for a long long time (in terms of quality of questions asked ). Myself , Aravind and Vismith came first in the prelims. I almost knew all the answers that day. The Finals was thrilling to the core. We were getting it right almost.The quiz was won by Stella Girls(who gave their own culturals a miss). We came second in the thrilling last round.( thanks to Vismith's guess.. lol.. he never knew it , the answer just came out of his mouth.)

The day was even more special to me as I won one more event . The event was 'Loan sanctioning'.The timings for the quiz prelims and this event clashed. I was itching to go to quiz prelims and I volunteered myself to be the first person who would approach the 'Banker' and approach for loan. Shravan was also participating in that event. I spoke first and then ran off for quiz prelims. The results were announced in the Main Hall and I was surprised that I came first because my speech was pathetic . Even more surprised was Shravan. Honestly , that was an event I should not have won . However as luck would have it I won it.

But we did not win the overalls that day. That hurt.

The best part came the next day. It was the evening college culturals of Loyala. There were three events and then a final event . It was progressive , If we won the first event , we would move to the next event and so on. Each college team consisted of Six persons. Our team was Myself,Roshit,Vismith,Mahendra, Aravind and Shravan.

The first event was academically related. So wisely I sent Shravan and Mahendra.They won it. We progressed. The Second event was aptitude test. We sent Roshit and Vismith.They won it . We again progressed. The third event was Quiz which myself and Aravind breezed through comfortably .( unlike the previous day , the questions were dumb). The Icing on the cake was the fact that we beat the Stella team that beat us the previous day. The final event was some talking event.Vismith blabbered something and came second in that event. Three first prizes and one second prize meant we won the overalls and also a hefty cash prize and a nice trophy.We had finally won an overalls trophy beating the filthy brats from Stella.Those two days at Loyola college are unforgettable days.

Perhaps my only disappointment of being the 'Cultural Secretary' was my inability to conduct a cultural event at Viveka. It was in the final semester that I cleared PE-2 and joined articleship. I was not able to devote time and do justice to my position. I could not carry both simultaneously.No one else from my department took it seriously. It just could not happen.

I heard that the culturals were conducted this year by my juniors. I am happy that they are reaping the fruits for the seed that our team sowed.

P.S.

--> You may think after reading this post that I have been blowing trumpets about my achievements.In a way I also feel it is true.

I would like to offer my explanations.

--> I will be the last one to proclaim myself to be the greatest.
--> At most culturals I have been lucky.
--> My list of participating certificates are greater than the prize winning ones. I have lost lots and lots of events.
--> My comfort zone is being modest.I must admit I have been outside my comfort zone while posting this particular blog.

Still I blogged about it because:-

1.Those were the moments in my life I was very happy and was enjoying every bit of it.
2.Such moments have been rare.
3.I want to treasure them somewhere where I can look back and feel happy about.
5.The greatest happiness comes by Nostalgia.Its like those master card ads. PRICELESS !

P.S for P.S ->>The intentional omitting of point 4 may please be ignored.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Boardroom Woman and her leadership.



Women started entering organisations 5 decades back and have gradually gone up the corporate ladder / hierarchy. Her sustained presence in the organisation has made her acquire leadership status.Women have been generally employed during consolidation phases and not in growth stages. The trend is fast changing.

Woman and Leadership

Women encounter various issues being in leadership positions.

1)At home generally women are not used to handling power and handling power is a challenge.This also involves the job of delegating jobs to subordinates.

2)Exercising authority is something that women have not done in history. Its completely new to her.The jokes that we read about a woman being supreme at home and her husband being a slave is a good for a laugh but if you just go deep into it its been the men who exercise authority.

3)Women in the past have been meeting no one except her relatives.Meeting customers, suppliers and handling government agencies is a challenge in itself.

4)Women now take part in policy formulation and strategy planning which is considered to be a part of top level management.She has truly risen high.

5)She has got to face lot of opinion differences with superiors , colleagues and subordinates . How she puts forward her point and convinces others is where the skills for leadership arise.

Women generally refuses leadership because of 3 reasons.

a)Blame it on the ethic less business culture prevalent in the society.Women have always been portrayed as ethical and good and may be that's why she refuses to a position where ethics are not prevalent.

b)The main reason is the fear of efficiently managing workplace and familial roles .The balancing act.

c)Also, career paths in organisations are not designed in a way so that women can climb up the ladder.Her aspirations are surrendered the moment she gets going in the organisations. I feel the trend is changing.

Life Space

Life space is the space available for women to be on their own. Generally 80 % of space is for motherhood , 10 % of the space is for the in-laws.5 % of space is for the other related roles and the remaining 5 % of the space is for the role of a wife.The 'self space' of a woman consists of all that is within her-the emotions ,feelings , wishes ,dreams and aspirations.The Identity of a woman is reflected by the multiple roles as they evolve over a period of time,the choices and actions initiated and withheld and the paths chosen consciously or unconsciously.

Although Women are capable , competent and committed , they are grappled with issues of Independence and autonomy.The social coding of being a mother ,daughter,daughter-in-law,wife has in a way made them to surrender their dreams and aspirations to be a good daughter , wives & mothers.

This creates immense stress in the husband-wife relationship.Motherhood creates guilt due to children's expectations of a mother who is always available at home.The in-laws are not generally not supportive but demanding and critical.Moreover,they add to the woman's guilt by criticizing and judging her involvement in work negativity.Other social demands from the woman's own family and the network of social relationships make further demands on her space and time. The more she is engaged in work , the more discontent is voiced by the societal system.


Women with Substance


Women grapple with the feeling whether home and work represent their own space,and whether they have ownership of these spaces.The perception is that home space belongs to the father or husband and the workspace belongs to male colleagues.Women are largely operative in other people's spaces and many have no personal sense of freedom and belonging.

I believe a Woman with Substance is one who is able to balance her space. If she fails
the biggest task would be playing the roles of daughter,daughter-in-law,wife at home and corporate leader at workplace since there is complex interplay of emotions and it becomes very difficult to prioritize.

A Mother is Leader
A woman is a mother also. Child rearing is an art itself.It is not easy , its a challenge.When a woman raises a child , she understands and learns about herself.The commitment to leadership and as a parent she strings to make the world a better place for the young one and this is nothing else but leadership.

Women and men both are leaders , but women have some things that men do not possess.
Lets be fair in our assessment.How significantly this is relevant with leadership I do not know but it is relevant.

a)Empathy:- E.g. A woman understands her child better than a father.

b)Flexible and Negotiable:- E.g.It is common knowledge here that getting a sign on the report card is easier with the mother.

c)They are perceived to have the country club style of leadership

Her Future

For women in the corporate world, the past may contain many memories.Some good,some bad;some creative ,some destructive;some glowing with radiance ,others with hate;some with guilt and shame , others with pride and achievement . These memories have added up to give vast panorama of experiences.

The future beckons.. some words are to be replaced.
Instead of dreams - commitment
Instead of aspirations - choices
Instead of fear - courage

Women have entered organizations in a big way. They have crossed new thresholds and are carving a niche for themselves in various fields and are blazing a new path for the future generations.

The future will perhaps witness leaders who will not be Identified by their gender but by their capability , their vision and their competence.

Monday, April 20, 2009

'Remote' Wars..

The Battles are not Remote ..
The Battle is for the Remote ..

All I ask for is the Indian Premier League..
But My Mom says to study and be in the Elite league..! (she means CA..lol)
She wants to see Kalasam and Kolangal..
When will she understand all these are 'Kevalangal'..?

She Says Devayani and Ramya Krishnan are Cute..
All I can do is to wait for her voice to Mute..
She keeps Sun TV even during Serial Breaks..
She does not understand without watching cricket my head will break..

In the home there is always a Remote Control Battle..
She says if I don't listen to her , I mite end up rearing cattle..!

I am happy that she is not watching arasi..
Coz that is the time she feeds me arisi(Rice)..
If I listen to commentary... Its High Decibel and gory..
IF she listens to 'opari'..its turning point in the story...!

My old Tv BPL ..
Is being deprived to telecast the IPL..
Its Injustice to the core..
Nights without IPL would be intolerable and bore..

One thing is for sure..

When my mom has the Remote control..
My Control of her is very Remote..!!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Make the Most of Now...

A 'lot' of people ( say Mr Matador, Ms Volatility , Mr Super Subbu ) have expressed concern for my depressive state of my mind and Ms Volatility and Mr Super Subbu even offered solutions.

Why am i depressed? Well, one reason is evident from my previous post and others maybe from some of my previous posts... Looking at the bigger picture, I realized the problem with me is that I think too much into the future , do too much of self introspection and when I am not able to obtain any happiness , I get depressed.

This is the right time to understand the phrase 'Carpe Diem'(borrowed from Kd,Similar to Kd) .. A latin phrase meaning 'Snatch the day'..

I think its perfect to catch this video.. (Vodafone AD)



Carpe Diem .. Make the Most of Now.. WOW... Beautiful.

Its wonderful to make the most of now and be happy. We longer living creatures must surely learn the lesson.All sounds great is it not?

Now look at this Video posted below (above ad's spoof...!!)



Oops.. This is my problem ( Pl help )!!!!..

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Terminate to stigmatize..

Do not Brand...
for the soul might crack..

Do not Denounce..
for the soul might burst..

Do not Stamp...
for the soul might crash..

Do not Stain..
for the soul might shatter..

Do not Mark..
for the soul might break..

Do not Reproach..
for the soul might Fracture..

Do not Stigmatize..
For there might be a Debacle..
For there might be a rupture..
For there might be a derailment..
For there might be a malfunction..

Cease to stigmatize..
Its now or never..

for there is Catastrophe already..!!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Out of My Comfort Zone - By Stephen Rodger Waugh ( the Autobiography).


This has been the book that I wanted to lay hands on for a long long time and finally did so last month. Wow!.. This 'Never Keep Down' book told me so many intricacies about the game itself and gave an insight into the life of cricketers on and off the field.

It is common known knowledge that Steve Waugh was not one of the 'great talents' on the field but known as the one who maximized his minute talent to the fullest. He is not known for his talent but more for his grit and determination. However this man does not agree!!. One line in his book states 'I was the most talented Batsman in New South Wales.' Does that mean he is more talented than Mark Waugh?? I do not think so.
Here I come across his personality as some one who is an extremely confused and agitated from within constantly trying to prove to himself that being a player of limited abilities , he has made it. However to the outside world , he fakes himself to be extremely talented.

The Most irritating thing in the book is the fact that everything that sounds good is the Australian way and everything else is bad.He claims Aussies lost games only because of bad scheduling , flight delays, poor hotels,lack of facilities for pre-match practice,Curators,hotels situated far away from grounds,Bad umpiring,extreme weather conditions etc etc and NOT BECAUSE THEY PLAYED POOR CRICKET!!

May be Steve needs to understand that all teams face such hardships and Aussies were no exception.The acceptance that they lost because they played bad cricket is never reflected anywhere in this 800 page book.!!On the contrary , he claims that every game that Aussies won was because of the fact that they played extremely good cricket and opponents were no match to them.How silly!!

He has not given great credit to too many opposition players.Often praise comes with an unusual dose of slack!(which I think is due to the jealous of not able to possess the talent of that opposition player and sometimes within his team!).

One of the cheap things he has said is with reference to the famous 2001 Kolkatta test."We were undone by bad umpiring. Venkatesh Prasad , the No 11 Batsman was plumb out but not given. Due to this VVS Laxman who was 35 then , scored a Half century and was able to carry on this form when he came back to bat at No 3 and scored 281". He neither accepts the fact that they were unable to get his wicket nor showers great praise on that flawless innings Laxman played.

Believe me , This is the tone that he takes throughout this book and that is truly irritating.

Some things such as the ACB-ACA duel in this book is boring to the core.However , he makes his point very clear that whatever happened , he stood by his players. One of the revelations that he makes is the relationship with his brother which he claims is not too smooth and I am surprised that there are not too many references to his 'Brother Mark'(copyright Vadivelu) in this book.

I was a great fan of Steve Waugh for his ability to bat with the tailenders and get the best out of them. He says ' Even the bowlers have some talent with the bat .The only thing that makes them to be wary is the number they bat.No Bowler wants to get out cheaply. I understood this and I was successful.'Indeed the best way to get them bat is to give them confidence that they can and allow them to play majority of balls of strike bowlers . By not doing so, they are never going to contribute.


It is surprising that all was not well even within this Aussie team as he openly speaks about his tiff with Michael Slater. Slater gets slack from him on one more occasion for his behaviour on the Dravid catch issue with Umpire Venkat (who is also damaged). Ego issues between Australian players come up in a subtle way very nicely which just goes to show that all is not great in the Aussie team as its made out to be. Waugh’s widening differences with the selectors as he approached the twilight of his career is extremely well written as is his reaction to his sacking from the ODI squad in early 2002 as captain and player.I think his best mate was Ian Healy. He recalls how painful it was for him to announce personally as the captain to Ian that he was being dropped from the ODI squad.

His Views on Captaincy is the one thing in this in this book which I subscribe to. He says -- ’’Captaincy is about empowerment,about making players responsible for their actions and ,in turn,accountable.It’s about treating everyone equally but differently by recognising there are varied characters and personalities who need to express their individual flair and instincts inside the ultimate team vision.It’s about setting an example and not expecting anything of your players that you aren’t willing to do yourself.It’s about mentoring and at times protecting individuals,and taking on their problems so that the team will benefit.You must swallow your pride in order to move on.Crucially,it’s about seeing the good in people and focusing on the positives and the things you can control.It’s making sure your time management is spot on and that you continue to earn your place in the side.At times for me it was being an advisor,psychologist,mate,mentor,mediator,selector,mouthpiece and politician.Above all,it was about being me and doing it my way.’’

Other Highlights of this book:-
a) Foreword by Rahul Dravid.
b) The Photographs.( Truly Photographs are great!)
c) His views on Match fixing.
d) His praising of Little known Sameer Dighe ( for his heroics on the last day of 2001 Chennai test)
e) His tips on how to face a ball. His mode of on and off concentration technique with his favorite 'NOW' word.
f) His duels with Curlty Ambrose ,Allan Donald etc etc.
g) The Famous Gibbs Dropcatch. (It is surprising to know that it was actually advised in their team meeting by Shane Warne not to hurry if gibbs takes a catch because he has that 'throwing away' tendency)
h) His 'Udayan' Work.
i) Fielding skills of another little known Roger Harper.
i) The Rapport with his wife - Lynette.(Who has written the last chapter in this book)
j) His on field Sledges (Paarthiv Patel's is the best)
k) Dressing room habits
and many more....

Truly the book is exceptional.However Stephen Rodger Waugh is unfortunately an Aussie & therefore exaggerates way too much( like saying chennai is 50*c) and also is Very arrogant ( says MA Chidambaram Stadium is a poor man's MCG)and Cocky (although he may not accept ).



A must read... A cricket lover's dream book.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

What if all of us looked alike ??!!

This is something that I have been pondering over years..

While each and every other living being in this world looks alike ( obviously within their own 'clan'), Why is that only in the 'Human Clan' all look different.?

The reason cannot be for 'Recognition' purposes alone because the 'cats' and 'dogs' not only recognize but also communicate with each other with no sense of confusion of who's who.( Truly Amazing!)

The scientific answer to my question is the DNA(Deoxy riboNucleic Acid).
The main function of a DNA in living organisms is to duplicate itself. A sequence of several DNA's form genes which is the main reason for the physical characteristics of a living being. DNA might sometimes undergo sudden changes called mutations. This is the reason for different features. Also, it depends on where the genes are placed on the chromosomes.(bloody hell!!)

Lets forget Science(I forgot long back) for a moment and connect with (much more relevant) Fantasy!

Imagine .. What if all of us looked alike???!!!
Now There arises the choices like whom should all the Humans look alike.?

Lets take 2 choices.

a) Aishwarya Rai.
or
b) Nelson Mandela.

I am sure that you are able to understand I have taken two opposites!

Aishwarya Rai is generally been the adjective to beauty even though many people do not subscribe that she is beautiful now.Nevertheless , she had been my first big crush and hence I believe she is or was beautiful.


Now if everyone looks like ASH.. Imagine..
Every person would look beautiful...

Positives:-
a) No Beauty Contests.. No Miss World , NO Mrs World.etc etc.
b) No selling of Fairness creams..
c) The World looks beautiful.
d) No gory people.. ( Even Beggars would be beautiful)

Negatives:-
a) People would forget ugliness as a factor.
b) Boredome!
c) Confusion of who's who?

Nelson Mandela has been an adjective to the Human Spirit!.He represented the Humans fighting against all odds.However sorry my friends , He looked ugly.

Imagine what if all of us looked like Mandela.

Positives:-
a) Hey!. Mandela would become the adjective of beauty!. No one is Beautiful after all.
b) The concept of Fair skin would become irrelevant.( It was what he fought for)
c) There is no Inferiority/Superiority Complex on Beautiful/ugly issue.

Negatives:-
a) The World becomes a ugly place. People would lose appetite for beauty.
b) Repeation, It is boredome..
c) Same.. Confusion of who's who.?

So, analysing the pros and cons and touch reality , it does feel that being oneself is what most prefer.

Whomsoever the Humans might look like the real beauty lies in the Heart of such a person i.e The Inner Beauty.(Fun apart , the ancillary objective of this blog was send across this message)

I would prefer to be a Mandela rather than ASH. I believe most of you prefer the same.

P.S.
I have not brought in the 'Gender' factor in this blog just to avoid 'complications'.(more so after being in the 'line of fire' on this topic of late ..lol)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Hey Ram ! -- The Master Piece of Indian Cinema



HEY RAM - The Film that made me a Fan , sorry Devotee of Kamal Haasan.

Not just the plot of the story but its narration stands apart.The highlight of this film is the insertion of fiction into reality/History.

Its my salutation to the greatest film of India.

It's December 6, 1999, and in a Chennai racked by communal violence on the 7th anniversary of the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya , a retired archeologist named Saket Ram ( Kamal ) lies in the bed dying of heart disease.

Keeping vigil at his bedside, his grandson, a Tamil novelist, narrates part of the old man's life story to the attending physician — a true story that he implies to be stranger than any fiction. It begins 53 years before, with Ram (Kamal) and a Muslim colleague, Amjad (Shahrukh Khan) working under the direction of British archeologist Mortimer Wheeler in the excavation of a grave in the 4,000 year old Indus Valley city of Mohenjo Daro (the "mound of the dead").

But their painstaking work to uncover the mysterious first urban civilization of South Asia is abruptly cut short by the announcement of the imminent division of the Subcontinent into two nations. Mohenjo Daro will now be in Pakistan, and Ram must return to his home in Calcutta.


So begins Kamal Haasan's daring and controversial meditation on the violence of Partition and its lingering traumas — a subject virtually taboo in commercial cinema for half a century. While retaining the look and sound of a commercial venture this 'ought to have been' blockbuster (Sadly.. It was not), Kamal's cinematic epic ventures deep into the terrain of communal conflict, examining the process by which human beings create and destroy their intimate "others."


Most of the film unfolds in flashback within the brief span between August 16, 1946, when the future "Father of Pakistan" Muhammad Ali Jinnah's declaration of a day of "Direct Action" by Muslims sparked communal carnage in Calcutta, and January 30th 1948, when a Hindu fanatic's bullet felled the "Father of India," Mohandas K. Gandhi at a prayer meeting in the garden of New Delhi's Birla House.



These watershed events shape Saket Ram's personal trajectory and drive him, at times, to the brink of madness. The film offers an unprecedented portrait of a traumatized survivor of events that others seek to forget, and reopens some of India's most painful wounds — though ultimately pointing towards redemption.


HEY RAM opened in February, 2000 to a lukewarm response . The film’s poor reception—or rather, near invisibility—in India partly reflected the reaction of angry politicians and bewildered critics (India Today praised its "technical wizardry" and acting, but called it "hard to categorize"(Bastards.. These so called critics do not know how to rate a film !). Many distributors (always jittery about cinematic subjects that are “too controversial” or “too smart” for the audience) pulled it from their areas within days of its release. The right-wing BJP party tried to have it banned as an “anti-Hindutva” film, while some Congress Party leaders denounced it as “anti-Gandhi”—the BJP’s reading appears, to me at least, to have been the more astute and certainly more in line with the director’s stated intent. Some leftist intellectuals, however, complained that the film’s refusal to demonize Hindu communalists and its “seductive” use of their imagery entirely subverted any progressive ideological agenda. If nothing else, such glaringly bi-polar interpretations at least suggest the intentional complexity of this courageous and groundbreaking film about individual and collective madness.

Its essentially a film about Gandhi's Ideology. The film offers us a humanized Bapu who is cranky, humorous, and not always sure of himself—a portrayal (like Real life Rajinikanth) that I, for one, much prefer to the flat and pontificating Mahatma of Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, whose every utterance was powerful or deemed to be so.


Kamal constructs his tale with multiple layers and ironies, involving three principal narratives, two of which are explicit and one implied. The frame narrative of the dying archeologist Saket Ram—a man who made his living digging through layers of the past—anchors the tale in the present (of the film’s release), at the turn of the 21st century. It also invokes (through the symbolic date of December 6th) the rise of Hindu nationalism during the 1990s as a potent force in Indian politics and the attendant increase in communal riots and massacres: events that led many Indians to a re-examination of long-repressed memories of the Partition violence in which their nation was born. As Saket Ram struggles for his life’s breath (muttering, "My nightmares are coming back to me...") the film hints at a nation struggling with its memories in the poisoned atmosphere of religious identity politics that have bred renewed hatred, fear, and violence. Since “Saket” is one of the ancient names of Ayodhya and also the name, among Ram worshipers, of the heavenly and eternal “city of Ram” to which they aspire after death, the hero of the film is also “Ram of Ayodhya,” and his own physical passing away is destined to fall on the anniversary of the day on which the earthly Ayodhya witnessed an act of desecration that would reverberate throughout India during elections.



The second explicit narrative is the flashback that comprises most of the film: a recapitulation of roughly a year and a half of some of the most turbulent and momentous events of 20th century South Asia: Partition and its aftermath,(He calls the Indo-Pak partition as the- " World's Biggest Political Divorce"). Independence, and the murder of Gandhi. This part of the film is exhaustively researched and fastidiously recreated, and most of the characters depicted (with the exception of the hero) are based on real persons.


The Brahmin intellectual Sri Ram Abhyankar who preaches Hindutva (the ideology of India as a “Hindu nation”) and presses on Saket Ram a banned book that is probably Veer Savarkar’s real book , the Bible of early Hindu militants; the discontented and formally deposed central Indian Maharaja and who supplies weapons to Gandhi’s would-be assassins (as the Maharaja of Gwalior allegedly equipped Nathuram Godse); and the once-prosperous Sindhi businessman Lalwani, who has lost everything in the Partition violence and seen his wife brutally slain — and who is a stand-in for the many traumatized Sindhis (including L. K. Advani) who have played a prominent role in the political rise of the Hindu Rights.

Who else but Kamal could have inserted such realistic strands of identity, within the fabric of fiction . Other strands include a graphic meditation on the relationship between communal violence and male fears of impotence, coded as “loss of honour” through failure to protect women: fears that are horribly addressed through the violation and (often) mutilation of women of the “Other” community.

I read somewhere that Godse’s famous defense during his trial — that he and his co-conspirators “wanted to show that there were still men left among the Hindus”— is suggested by the lovemaking that follows Saket Ram’s initiation into the plot to kill the Mahatma, culminating in a drug induced hallucination in which he fantasizes his wife’s body turning into an enormous gun. Another hallucination poses the hero himself in a graphic rendition of the latter-day Ayodhya agitators’ favored propaganda poster of an “angry Rama,” muscular and armed, gazing determinedly into a gathering storm.


Indeed, the third and subtlest level of narrative here is the Ramayana saga itself, both in its own basic structure and in its myriad reinterpretations, especially as a socio-political allegory. The film’s Ram, like the epic’s, is traumatized by the loss of his wife and sets out on a quest for revenge that eventually carries him across the length and breadth of India. In the film, this journey includes a second marriage, albeit half-heartedly contracted, with a spirited girl named Mythili (“the girl from Mithila,” a favorite epithet of the epic’s heroine Sita), who, like her namesake, unsuccessfully urges her husband to abstain from violence.


Instead, Saket Ram makes his fateful decision to join the plot against the Mahatma during a folk drama in which an effigy of the demon Ravana is burned: hence during the autumn festival of Dusshera which climaxes the annual Ram-lila pageant and commemorates the demon-king’s death (and which was also the date chosen for the founding of the R.S.S. in 1925, the extremist organization whose rabidly anti-Muslim ideology nurtured Godse and his followers). And like the epic Ram, the film’s hero battles “demons” throughout much of the story: those of his own madness and grief; the innocent (and guilty) Muslims he kills in revenge for his first wife’s death; and Gandhi, on whom he eventually focuses as the Ravana or arch-demon, the “poison tree” (in Abhyankar’s words) behind the whole “Muslim problem.” At last, he turns against the demons of hatred and violence within himself, reunites with a brother named “Bharat,”(Bharath) reverently accepts a pair of sandals, and achieves, through suffering, a kind of personal “Ramraj” that Gandhi himself would have endorsed: the dream of a multi-religious, harmonious India.

Saket’s dream is shown to survive his death, to be reaffirmed as Amjad Khan’s widow joins the aged Mythili in mourning her husband, and as Tushar Gandhi (the Mahatma’s actual great-grandson, though admittedly not much of an actor) joins Saket Ram’s fictional grandson in the deceased archeologist’s study: a museum-cum-shrine to his obsession with and devotion to the man he once wanted to kill. The film’s final image of these younger men opening shuttered windows to let in the daylight suggests its director’s own obsessive labor to illuminate and examine, with lights and camera, several of modern India’s repressed pasts. This sequence is accompanied by the most memorable of the film's five songs (all of which are sensitively inserted into the storyline, and reflect the versatility of Ilayaraja) — an anthem strongly critical of communalism.



Ultimately, one’s response to HEY RAM will depend on a perception of the plausibility of Saket Ram’s eleventh hour conversion from Gandhi-hater to Gandhian, which in turn hangs on a momentous surprise reunion with Amjad in the twilit lanes of Old Delhi.

Shah Rukh’s Splendid performance during this dramatic scene—and his wounding by a Hindu mob caused me to virtually relive, with Saket Ram, his own wife’s suffering,
I wept the last fifteen minutes. Movies seldom do this to me. It did. That's Kamal Haasan.

The film boasts gorgeous cinematography and splendid sets that meticulously recreate the period, including scores of antique automobiles, and a recreation of Mohenjo Daro dug into the Tamil earth outside Chennai. The assassination scene in the garden of Birla House, though actually shot in the South Indian hill station of Ootacamund, was so exhaustively researched and convincingly recreated that the actress playing Amjad’s mother—who, in fact, had been an eyewitness to Gandhi’s slaying as a girl of twelve—was reportedly overcome with emotion, necessitating a halt in shooting. Superb performances by an all-star cast include cameos by veterans Girish Karnad and Hema Malini, and a heavily-made-up Naseeruddin Shah, who looks surprisingly convincing as the aged Mahatma.

People who really understood the film will agree that Gandhi is the real hero of the film. The fact that he comes roughly around 30 minutes is the greatness of Kamal’s direction and way of story-telling!! He would have shot the present in black-n white and the past with Gandhi in Colour and as soon as Gandhi is assassinated, the picture turns Black-n-white again. Just to show that Gandhi gave us Light and it turns black-n-white after his death. Towards the end, Saket's Grandson gets the key of one of Saket's private rooms and he visits it with Gandhi's real Great Grandson. The movie finishes with both of them opening the windows carved on an image of Gandhi again sharing the same thought that Gandhi showed light. Again he would shown the fire both in 1940s and present in colour depicting how when everything’s changed Violence has remained forever and how we haven’t learnt our lessons fully.


The films humour is the best I have seen for a long long time. The Dialogues are the strenght of the film.

Special mention for Vasundhara Dass. She plays mythili , the 'Intelligent' wife of Ram.Without any doubt , I think its the best female charachter in Indian Cinema.

To you Kamal Haasan , Thanks for Giving Indians “Hey Ram”, None could’ve done even 10 percent of this so forget anything closer . HEY RAM is an important and must-see film, a landmark achievement in Indian Cinema.

Its the best film I have ever seen and I am very Confident in saying that this would have been the greatest film I would have seen until I rest in peace for the simple reason that everytime I watch it , I find something new to interpret.

It changed my Life ... I am sure it will to you too.

Bibiliography:- Google and Wikipedia.