Captain - the family man
I got these pictures of Captain as a forward. I don't know if they were meant as publicity material but one thing is evident. They do show Captain (or "Gabtun" to much of the blogosphere) as a "family man", the kind of person who is usually projected as ideal in US politics. At the outset, let me make it clear that I have never been a fan or a follower of Vijayakanth's movies. In fact, I used to be very biased
against his movies at some point in time but later, I grew to tolerate his movies and even started enjoying them for entertainment value.
What I do admire though is the way he jumped in with both feet into politics
the way he said he would (instead of dilly-dallying like my own favorite actor) and has already started feeling the heat of hostility from his political rivals in the form of certain actions against his interests (properties). I think it requires guts to take on two major fronts at the same time and he is now a force to reckon with, this election itself (even if he ends up not winning the majority of votes as is likely). Also, without any other major alternative to the two dominant parties in the state, we have to consider the plank on which this person had made his pitch.
Both the DMK and AIADMK have their pluses and minuses and neither party can qualify to have a "holier than thou" attitude based on their chequered political history. While they cannot be condemned outright (since both parties have undertaken developmental schemes during their tenure), the "mutual vendetta" politics they have unleashed has eclipsed many of the positives during their rule and has itself had a detrimental effect on the state's fortunes. Many things are based on perception and this internecine rivalry may have sent the wrong signals to some prospective investors and political observers in the past. That being the case and the fact that both have always stood an equal chance at the hustings, many people may think that it may be time to usher in some change and that the Captain is beginning to look like a good candidate on that score.
I think the popular perception among a section of the electorate is likely to be "why not give him a chance since, at least new brooms sweep clean and before the system "reforms" him, he will try to do some good to the people based on his promises". So, let us see how the Captain faces his hardest challenge yet. It should be remembered that this post has nothing to do with the word "Thennavan" and/or its relation to Gabtun :-). So, here comes the "Casual Captain" spending quality time with his family.
I saw this appeal for help first on
Praveen's blog and it looks like
others have also caught on to it, but in any case,
this person is suffering from a serious condition called Aplastic Anemia and is in dire need of financial help to save him. The
how to donate page has also been created for those who would like to help. Hope he pulls thru this ordeal.
The Weekender
For this weekend, I have two Thamizh songs, one as a video. The first one is from the
1987 movie "
Rettai Vaal Kuruvi" starring Mohan and a young Radhika. It should be remembered that at the height of his career as a second-rung hero (next only to Kamal and Rajini and known not-so-flatteringly as the "
poor man's Kamal", man here meaning producer :-) just as Vijaykanth was known as the "
poor man's Rajini"),
Mohan had perhaps the best musicals ever produced for a hero in the 80s era.
Almost all the songs featuring him were the soft romantic types and were runaway successes. I find it strange that hardly any bloggers who have knowledge of an earlier era of Thamizh movies have blogged about Mohan as a hero. Mohan paired with almost all the leading ladies of his day like
Radha, Ambika, Radhika, Poornima Jayaram, Revathy etc. and he has a very rare distinction that not even the
A-list of the Thamizh movie industry, namely, Sivaji, MGR, Kamal and Rajini can lay a claim to. Do you know what that is?
If you take out Haridas (which was released in 1944) that ran the longest number of days for a Thamizh movie - 768 days, the only Thamizh movie that ran the longest post-independence, is Payanangal Mudivadhillai, the Mohan-starrer that ran for 526 days. So, here we go with the number "
Raja Raja Chozhan Naan".
(Requires Flash to view and do keep your speakers ON)
(
If the above embedded video does not work, you can watch the song here, unless YouTube.com happens to be down).
With many people in the "blogging generation" :-) thinking
mostly of
Mouna Ragam whenever a mention of Mohan is made, I also wanted to bring a song of the other hero in that movie,
Karthik, into focus here. The movie of the song I am about to mention is "
Varusham 16" released in
1989 and the song which is
this (
opens in a new window), is a wonderful one. My childhood friend Srikanth loved this song - Sri, if you are reading this you know I did not forget you even while remembering this song :-).
Vaali's poem on Rajini in Kumudam
Transliteration:
AvargaLin kaigaL
Arikkindrana...
KOl nattuk
Kodi katta;
Pasai kAichchip
POster otta;
Marupadiyum
MAmbazhaththOdu mutta;
MunnindRu
MundA thatta!
ThanGaL
Thalaivanai nOkki...
"AaNaiyidu; alladhu
AaLaividu" endRu -
AarparikkindRanar
AvargaLil silar;
AvargaLil
Aagum...
RasigargaL pAl
Rajini pUndirikkum -
Anbai
Arin dilar!
Oru nadigan;
Oru rasigan;
Iv
(V)iruvaril...
PinnavandhAn
Munnavanin -
Nuraiyiralil
Nuzhaindu purappadum kAtRu; avan -
NAnangaLil
NALum Odum NiNanIr UtRu!
PudhidhAik -kottagai
Pugundha than padam...
NUru
NALA?
VeLLi
VizhAvA?
Yena nadiganukku
Erpadum oruvagai Puzzle
Adhai thIrpadhu -rasigan
Adikkadi adikkindRa visil;
Nadiganin
Nalla pugazhenum kanalai...
VisiRi vaLarppavan dhaan-
VisiRi;
ALavattRa
Anbu konda-
Aththaghu visiRiyai Rajini eRivArA
Arasiyalil visiRi?
"Endhak katchikkum illai -
Yenadhu voice;
ULLadhil nalladhu alladhu -
UnGaL choice!"
Arasiyal
AarpAttaththil
Aduththavar RoobA - bhAdhippadhai
Aadharikkavillai Baba!
SurunGach
Cholap pOyin...
AndRu -
SivAji -
"Uyarndha manidhan"Aga;
IndRu -
Uyarndha manidhan
"SivAji"yAga!
Vaali is simply the best in the business :-).
Change of city names leading to change of fortunes?
Look at this alphabetical order that used to exist on all lists of the four metropolises in India:
Bombay
Calcutta
Delhi
Madras
Now look at what has happened after our politicians decided to "go native" with those names:
Chennai
Delhi
Kolkata
Mumbai
It may be purely coincidental (
and may have nothing to do with numerology - I've added the previous eight words only to notionally satisfy a part of the
pseudo-scientific desi blogosphere ready to rabidly bad-mouth anything that even remotely looks occult or sounds "traditional", just so that they can appear "hep", "modern" and "happening" :-)), but ever since this city order changed and pushed Chennai to the top, the "Gateway to the South" has indeed emerged the leader, by becoming a magnet for foreign investments, job creation and relocating people attracted by its overall quality of life.
What is indeed strange is a set of people who keep chanting "Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad" and feigning amnesia for one of the original metropolises of India (
indha muttaaLthanaththai enge solli naanum azhuvadhu? :-))
This and that - Part Deux
So, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have named their daughter
Suri. You ask "what about it?" A friend's wife remarked that such Indian-sounding names were becoming popular these days (like how Nathan, Maya, Chandra etc. sound so cool on Americans).
Suri is a name for Krishna. It also means a sage. But unfortunately, it means other things too in other languages, some of which are
not-so-flattering. But hey, what does Tom care? :-)
Many of us already know about
LokParitran, the political party started by a group of ex IIT-ians. Blogger
Anantha had sent an email a couple of days back to a few of us bringing to our attention eight candidates who have been fielded for this election in Thamizhnaadu. He wanted us to spread the word around.
Rajeev Sreenivasan, a popular Rediff columnist has already picked up the gauntlet with his
post on it and I am following suit. I am not in awe of this model and neither support it nor denounce it but rather want to watch it dispassionately to see how much of an impact it makes. Knowing the current state of mind of our electorate and even more importantly, the present day political system, I have my doubts but hope springs eternal in the human breast, so let's see :-). The candidates and the constituencies they represent are:
Santhanagopalan - Mylapore
Elanthirumaran - Chepauk
Ishrayel Mahesh - Thousand lights
Prashanth Sharma - Egmore
Arvind Tiruvaiyar - T.Nagar
Rajamani - Annanagar
Hariharan - Saidapet
Rabindra Ganesh - Park Town
More details about the candidates are available on the
LokParitran site.
A few posts that caught my attention:
B a l a j i, you excel yourself.
Fresh off the oven from Keerthi.
The continuing
R2I (how to plan for a return to India for NRIs) series from Ram Viswanathan.
The "
Please describe how you spent your weekend in 2500 words or less" essay by RS.
Judgement by Casement (that is two "ment"s :-)).
Murali Venkatraman singing "
Thene thenpaaNdi meenE".
There are more of the excellent bloggers out there and I'll cover them in the next round-up.
Starring: AL GORE
Releasing Summer 2006 -
An Inconvenient Truth(Requires Flash to view and do keep your speakers ON)
Save Planet Earth! It ain't got much gas (literally and figuratively :-)) going for it.
"Oadi poyi kalyanam pannikkalaamaa?"
First example of our regular Thamizh movie dialogue happening
as stated :-)
More on the story (pic courtesy: AFP)
I remember a S.V.Shekar drama where he quotes this line and the heroine asks "oadi poyaa?" to which S.V. says "Oadi naa, oadi illai. Appadiye car-leyo, bus-leyo, train-leyo". Funny :-).
Two musical treats - one Hindi, one Thamizh
Movie: KinaraYear: 1977Actors: Dharmendra, Hema Malini, JeetendraSingers: Bhupinder, Lata MangeshkarLyrics: GulzarMusic Director: R.D. BurmanAnd the song,
Hear it :-).
Naam Gum Jaayegaa, Cheharaa Ye Badal Jayegaa
Merii Aavaaz Hii, Pahachaan Hai
Gar Yaad Rahe
Vaqt Ke Sitam, Kam Hasii.N Nahii.N
Aaj Hai.N Yahaa.N, Kal Kahii.N Nahii.N
Vaqt Se Bhare Agar, Mil Gaye Kahii.N
Merii Aavaaz Hii ...
Jo Guzar Ga_Ii, Kal Kii Baat Thii
Umr To Nahii.N, Ek Raat Thii
Raat Kaa Silaa Agar, Phir Mile Kahii.N
Merii Aavaaz Hii ...
Din Dhale Jahaa.N, Raat Paas Ho
Zi.Ndagii Kii Lau, Uu.Nchii Kar Chalo
Yaad Aaye Gar Kabhii, Jii Udaas Ho
Merii Aavaaz Hii ...
Movie: ArangEtRa VELaiYear: 1990Actors: Prabhu, RevathiSingers: K.J. Yesudas, Uma RamananMusic Director: IlaiyarajaReady?
Here we go :-).
(
To view the lyrics in Thamizh, on your browser menu, go to View->Encoding->Unicode (UTF-8))
படம்: அரங்கேற்றவேளை
இசை: இளையராஜா
பாடியவர்கள்: கே.ஜே. ஏசுதாஸ் & உமா ரமணன்ஆண்: ஆகாய வெண்ணிலாவே தரை மீது வந்ததேனோ
பெண்: அழகான ஆடை சூடி அரங்கேறும் வேளைதானோ
ஆண்: மலர் சூடும் கூந்தலே மழைக் காலமேகமாய் கூட
பெண்: உறவாடும் விழிகளே இரு வெள்ளி மீன்களாய் ஆட
ஆண்: ஆகாய வெண்ணிலாவே தரை மீது வந்ததேனோ
பெண்: அழகான ஆடை சூடி அரங்கேறும் வேளைதானோ
ஆண்: தேவார சந்தம் கொண்டு தினம் பாடும் தென்றல் பூவாரம் சூடிக்கொண்டு தலை வாசல் வந்ததின்று
பெண்: தென்பாண்டி மன்னன் என்று தினம் மேனி வண்ணம் கண்டு மாடியேறி வாழும் பெண்மை படியேறி வந்ததின்று
ஆண்: இளநேரம் பாலும் தேனும் இதழோரம் வாங்க வேண்டும்
பெண்: கொடுத்தாலும் காதல் தாபம் குறையாமல் ஏங்க வேண்டும்
ஆண்: கடல் போன்ற ஆசையில் மடல் வாழை மேனி தான் ஆட
பெண்: நடு சாம வேளையில் நெடு நேரம் நெஞ்சமே கூட
ஆண்: ஆகாய வெண்ணிலாவே தரை மீது வந்ததேனோ
பெண்: அழகான ஆடை சூடி அரங்கேறும் வேளைதானோ
ஆண்: மலர் சூடும் கூந்தலே மழைக் காலமேகமாய் கூட
பெண்: உறவாடும் விழிகளே இரு வெள்ளி மீன்களாய் ஆட
ஆண்: ஆகாய வெண்ணிலாவே தரை மீது வந்ததேனோ
பெண்: அழகான ஆடை சூடி அரங்கேறும் வேளைதானோ
பெண்: தேவாதி தேவர் கூட்டம் துதி பாடும் தெய்வ ரூபம் ஆதாதி தேசமெங்கும் ஒளி வீசும் கோவில் தீபம்
ஆண்: வாடாத பாரிஜாதம் நடை போடும் வண்ண பாதம் கேளாத வேணு காணம் கிளி பேச்சை கூட்டக் கூடும்
பெண்: அடியாளின் ஜீவன் ஏறி அதிகாரம் செய்வதென்ன?
ஆண்: அலங்கார தேவ தேவி அவதாரம் செய்வதென்ன
பெண்: இசை வீணை வாடுதோ இதமான கைகளில் மீட்ட
ஆண்: சுதியோடு சேருமோ சுகமான ராகமே காட்ட
ஆண்: ஆகாய வெண்ணிலாவே தரை மீது வந்ததேனோ
பெண்: அழகான ஆடை சூடி அரங்கேறும் வேளைதானோ
ஆண்: மலர் சூடும் கூந்தலே மழைக் காலமேகமாய் கூட
பெண்: உறவாடும் விழிகளே இரு வெள்ளி மீன்களாய் ஆட
ஆண்: ஆகாய வெண்ணிலாவே தரை மீது வந்ததேனோ
பெண்: அழகான ஆடை சூடி அரங்கேறும் வேளைதானோ
(
thanks to my brother for the Thamizh lyrics of this song)
Chennai names
The localities within a city are an interesting study by themselves. In Coimbatore and its vicinity, one would find a lot of "pAlayam"s like MettupAlayam, PAppAnaicken pAlayam etc. Tiruchi has its share of "Ur"s and "Nagar"s like UraiyUr, TennUr, GAndhi Nagar etc. I don't know much about Madurai and its suburbs and someone here may add to the discussion if they know about it. Among all the cities, the capital of Thamizhnaadu has possibly the most diverse of "similar-surname" localities. This list was compiled by my brother (with me adding several examples for each surname that I could think of) and I thank him for that (
these are strictly not just pincodes although the majority are) :
1. PettAh, Pettai or Pet - Examples include RoyappEttAh, SaidApet, AlwArpet, Chromepet, WAshermanpet, TeynAmpet, Chetpet, TondiArpet, Pudupet(tai) (RAnipet-tai
pettai rap :-)).
2. P(b)Edu or MEdu - Examples include KoyambEdu, ChoolaimEdu, KAsimEdu.
3. PAdi - Examples include PAdi, VyAsarpAdi, KAtpAdi (although not in Chennai but a close enough town).
4. P(b)Akkam/VAkkam - Examples include ThorappAkkam, PattiNappAkkam (Foreshore Estate), ChitlapAkkam, KodambAkkam, NungambAkkam, MeenambAkkam, VillivAkkam, VaLasaravAkkam, ArumbAkkam, MEdavAkkam, NesappAkkam, InjambAkkam, KilpAuk(KeezhpAkkam), ChEpAuk(kam), KottivAkkam, KeLambAkkam.
5. Puram or Varam - Examples include KOttUrpuram, RAjA ANNAmalaipuram (R.A.Puram), GopAlapuram, AbirAmapuram, Royapuram, MAmallapuram/MahAbalipuram, PallAvaram (which could have possibly been Pallavapuram), AyanAvaram (which could have possibly been Ay(y)anpuram), MAdhavaram (again could have been MAdhavapuram).
6. ChEry(i)/Ery(i) or Kuppam - Examples include VELachEry, ErukkanchEri, OttEri, VEpEry, AyOdhyAkuppam, Nochchikkuppam, Doomingkuppam.
7. Nagar - Examples include T. Nagar (ThiAgarAya Nagar), Besant Nagar, ShAstri Nagar, IndirA Nagar, GAndhi Nagar, VaLLalAr Nagar, ANNA Nagar, PeriyAr Nagar, MGR Nagar, KK Nagar, AlwAr Thirunagar, MRC Nagar, Ashok Nagar.
8. Ur (Oor) or ERi - Examples include KorattUr, KOttUr, AlandUr, POrUr, NanganallUr, PerambUr, EzhumbUr (Egmore), PozhichchalUr, ThiruvAnmiyUr, Ennore, Mylapore.
9. ThAngal - Examples include PazhavanthAngal, EekkAduthAngal.
10. Karai - Examples include NeelAnkarai, Aminjikkarai (Amaindhakarai maybe the original).
Unique names (exceptions) - Examples include Mandaiveli, Nandanam, AdyAr, Guindy, TAmbaram, (West) MAmbalam, ThiruvallikkENi (Triplicane), Parrys (Corner), SAligrAmam, MaNali, Puzhal, Poonamallee (Poovirundavalli) and more.
I wonder what it is for places like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar etc. :-).
UFOs in Thamizhnaadu?
This video was purportedly taken somewhere in Tamilnadu (as per what it says on YouTube). Watch it closely (I was only looking at the fast moving lights and not the ground when watching it initially).
(Requires Flash)
I don't know if this is real or made-up but one thing is certain - so far, the aliens visiting earth in flying-saucers have found reason to return because they think humans are great, but that is also because they have landed in other places where they have gone back with a clear head. Like in the above video, after marking Thamizhnaadu for a landing, if they ever happen to meet any of our politicians, I am sure they will go back confused and possibly may never visit earth again :-).
P.S. If YouTube is down, then you can't see the video (I found this by checking on this post frequently tonight - the night of posting this).
The RAMAYANA in 65 illustrations
People when they move out of India
lament about not finding enough Amar Chitra Kathas and other books that explain Indian mythology when it comes to the issue of bringing up their children with stories of epic characters, the way they were brought up. At least there are sites like
this (
link sent by my brother) that attempt to fill that void. Anyone knows of such pictorial representations of the
Mahabharata on the web?
From mythology to the mundane:
Looks like
this site will become increasingly important for people in America, now that oil is setting
record highs everyday. Go find the gas station in your area with the cheapest prices (
thanks Adaengappa Prabhu). The future is here. It is in
Ethanol. The latest company to join the party is
Toyota. Be prepared to welcome
clean, green cars and other environment-friendly consumer products of the future. I guess no one wants
what is happening to polar bears to happen to humans.
Moral Policing never fails to make headlines
Violation of norms - Censor Board to deploy "spies"Click on the above headline to read the full piece. This "Censor Board" in India is a pet peeve for a lot of people. I thought this was peculiar only to India but Googling the term, I found that it was present in a handful of countries, the "Commonwealth" if you will - one among the last vestiges of Victorian prudery left behind by the British. In most countries of the world, there is a
Certification Board for films. The basis for this is to
rate movies based on content so that
parents can take meaningful decisions on behalf of their
minor children. It is a big joke if a Censor Board comprised of adults takes decisions to shield content from
adults.In other words, an adult in India can vote, get a driving license, go to college, get a job, get married and have children but cannot see content that is deemed
offensive/objectionable/prurient by
a handful of people on behalf of an entire nation. Although I am against the concept of a Censor Board, I am willing to hear the other side of the debate and so feel free to differ with me with your points. The question is -
In this day and age, do we need a Censor Board in India?
The raw power of ideas on the web
Everyone knows the Internet is the greatest thing ever (after sliced bread :-)). Existing business models have been turned on their head and new ones have spawned a variety of businesses. Some new-world ideas have been retrofitted onto old-world ones, even though not all have turned out to be successes. In the midst of all this, we do find the really creative ones where the ideas could have been easily yours or mine but which did occur to someone else in the first place. These ideas have had no investments to speak of, no venture capital and no backing of any sort. These have all been initiated by individuals who have invoked their fountains of creativity and are reaping the sweet fruits of it.
One makes full use of the power of blogging (and is an old one that really needs no introduction), the second is a radical twist to an existing idea (which of course did not depend on blogging for its promotion) and the third, which is the latest of the three, makes partial use of blogging but has somehow found a way to get the word out among the online (and offline) community.
1.
PostSecret - If you did not know about the existence of this blog thus far, you must have just crawled out from under a rock :-). This site lets you snail mail your heart's darkest emotions (or even lighter ones) in total anonymity and have it displayed on the blog to the entire world. It could be about relationships, sex, office politics, personal gripes, whatever. For the contributors, it is a kind of catharsis. For the owner of the blog, it is fame.
2.
A million pixels and a million dollars - Alex Tew was just a student like some of us, doing a business degree. He figured that at the end of the course, he would not only have a much-coveted business degree but also a lot of loan to boot. Since he was driven by an ardent desire not to start off life with a financial handicap, he came up with the idea of selling space on his site at the rate of $1 per pixel. He created a 100x100 matrix of cells (each containing 100 pixels) and sold them either as a single cell (minimum purchase of $100) or a block of cells. Starting out in August 2005, he became quite famous by the end of last year and by the beginning of this year, had sold out almost the entire space. How's that for a smart kid?
3.
One Red Paperclip - Here's the really bizarre idea that someone has pulled off with elan (to a great degree although not completely yet). Kyle MacDonald started off with just a red paperclip and a dream of owning a home. He wanted to use the community power of the Internet to barter that clip for something bigger and continue the process until he had something big enough to get a home in exchange. Thus far, he has managed to come up all the way from just a humble paperclip to a year's worth of free rental on a house in Phoenix, AZ. He is still obsessive about his dream of ultimately becoming the proud owner of a home thru this barter route. This is one idea that has the word "innovative" written all over it.
So, any of you have any ideas that you would like to share? Wait a minute, if you have a good idea, you are really goin' to wanna share it here, aren't you? :-)
Warning - Long and Tough Thamizh post ahead
I decided to have for the title of this post what I should have put down as a caveat to CC readers. I am pretty sure 99% of those reading this may not get past the first few lines and most may just skim thru this post as it involves some really heavy Thamizh (of course made readable to some extent by transliterating it).
Towards the end I also have an(other) audio post which is the first tune that I had thought of, for the Madras Gaana song when I composed the lyrics (the one we - Ganesh, Robbie and I - presented last weekend was the tune that Ganesh had composed and we made that the final version since everyone agreed on that).
In these days of English as the
lingua franca of the world, most people tend to lose touch with their native language and speaking in one's mother-tongue somehow becomes
infra dig (since for some strange reason, knowledge of English and its skilled usage in oral/written communication seems to automatically bestow a certain degree of "sophistication" on the person). Two of the oldest languages in the world being Sanskrit and Thamizh, it is really bizarre that anyone who speaks in "pure" Samskrit or Thamizh is regarded as some kind of a retard or as one who is "unable to move with the times". Although the British did leave the country finally, surely they did manage to enslave us in full - mind, body and spirit, long after :-).
Anyway, the purpose of this post is to highlight what a wonderful legacy (in our own languages) has been bequeathed to us by the seers and other eminent people in our tradition and culture. Most people who have learnt some Thamizh in school (especially in ThamizhnAdu) would have definitely known
AuvaiyAr, the great poetess-saint. The following verses are from her
MUdhurai (capitalized vowels and consonants are longer/stronger sounding ones of the same) - lines that are both poetic and convey life philosophies much as those from a later work by a latter-day saint -
ThirukkuraL by ThiruvaLLuvar.
I learnt these verses by-heart in my 5th and 6th standards and remember them to this day.
So, presenting before you 18 of these four-liners (with the explanation for the last verse) accompanied by my audio post on all of them below. You can try reading them along with me if you are really up to the challenge :-), but this post is more to spur some of you on to discover the rare gems in our literature and to also begin to like the aspect of such language rolling off your tongue, which can be a pleasure in itself.
SAdhi irandozhiya vErillai
SAtRunGAl nIdhi vazhuvA neRimuRaiyil
MEdhiniyil ittAr periyOr idAdhAr izhikulaththOr
PattAnGil uLLapadi
AAtRuppeRukku attRu adisudum annALum avvAru
UUtRu perukkAl ulagUttum
YEtRavaRkku nalla kudi piRandhAr nalkUndRarAnAlum
Illaiyena mAttAr isaindhu
Oru nAL uNavai ozhi endRal ozhiyAi
Iru nALaikku yEl yendrAl yELAi
Oru nALum ennOvu ariyAi
IdumbaikkUr en vayiRe unnOdu vAzhdhal aridhu
AAtRankaraiyin maramum arasariya
VIttRirundha vAzhvum vizhumandRe
YEtRam uzhuthundu vAzhvadharku oppillai kandIr
Pazhudhundu veRor paNikku
Pichchaikku mooththa kudi vAzhkkai pEsungAl
Ichchai pala solli idiththunGai
ChI chI vayir vaLarkkaikku mAnam azhiyAdhu
Uyir vidugai sAla urum
Maram pazhuththAl vavvAlai vA endRu kURi
IRandazhaippAr yAvarum anGu illai
SuRandhamudham kattRAdhararpOl karavAdhALipparEL
UttRar ulagaththavar
VettanaVe medhanavE vellAvAm
Vezhaththin patturuvum kOl panJir pAyAdhu
Nettiruppu pARaikku nekku vidA pARai
Pasumaraththin verukku nekku vidum
AAna mudhalil adhigam selavAnAl
MAnamazhindhu madhikettu
EllArkkum kaLvanAi yEzh piRappum thIyanAi
NallArkkum pollanAm nAdu
NandRi oruvarkku seidhakkAl
AnnandRi endRu tharuNgoL ena vendA
NindRu thaLaRA vaLarththenGu thAL unda nIrai
ThalaiyAle thAn tharudhalAl
NallAr oruvarkku seidha ubagAram
Kallil ezhuththu poal kANumE
AllAdha IramillAdha nenjaththArkku Inda ubagAram
NIr mEl ezhuththukku nEr
AttAlum pAl suvaiyil kundrAdhu
NaLavalAi nattAlum nanballAr nanballar
KettAlum mEn makkaL mEn makkaLe
SanGu suttAlum veNmai tharum
KavaiyAgi kombAgi kAttagaththE niRkkum
Avaiyalla nalla maranGaL
Avai naduvE nIttOlai vAsiyA nindrAn
Kurippariya mAttAdhavan nal maram
VEnGai varippuli nOi thIrththa vidagAri
Angadhanukku AgAram AnArpOl
PAnGariyA pullarivAlarkku seidha ubagAram
Kallin mEl itta kalam
Adakkam udaiyAr arivilar endreNNi
Kadakka karudhavum vEndA
Madaiththalaiyil Odu MIn Oda uru MIn
VarumaLavum vAdiyirukkumAm kokku
AttRa kuLaththin aRunIr paravai pOl
UttruzhiththIrvAr uravallar
AkkuLaththil kottiyum Ambhalum neidhalum pOlavE
Otti uruvAr uravu
NatRAmarai kayaththil nallannam sErndhArpOl
KattRArai kattRAre kAmuruvar
KarpillA mUrkarai mUrkar mugappar
MudhukAttil kAkkai ugakkum piNam
Mannanum mAsarakkatROnum sIrthUkkin
Mannanil kattROn sirappudaiyan
Mannanukku than desamallAmal sirappillai
KattROrukku sendRa idamellAm sirappu
As a small example of the kind of wisdom contained in these verses, here is a verse and its translation.EEkku vidam thalaiyil yEidhumKodunthELukku vAiththa vidam kodukkil vAzhumENOkkariya painGaN aravukku vidam pallaLavEDurjanarukku anGam muzhudum vidamE AmThe poison of a fly is (only) in its head, that of the scorpion (only) in its tail and of a snake, at the most in its teeth but bad people are poisonous all over their bodies.If you managed to read along this far, I am sure you have a lot of patience and more importantly, some love for Thamizh :-).
Ok, now for the audio post on the
Saidapettai Mannaru song and this is especially for bloggers like
Anti and
PK who, with their comments, indirectly egged me on to sing the lyrics in
true "Gaana"-style (assuming this is what they had wanted :-)).
If I take it that some of you have heard both the audio posts above, can I hear you go "wow, what a contrast!"?
:-)
Vyaya Varushamay, Varuga Varuga
Wish you all a very happy Thamizh New Year's Day/Vishu/Baisakhi. If you are celebrating this with your (friends and) family either in India or elsewhere, there is nothing like it and if you are like some of us, don't worry - you can still be happy that you are not alone :-).
For the English New Year's day, I had posted the link for the "Hey everybody, wish you a happy new year" song from Sakalakalaa Vallavan and so for the Thamizh New Year, here is the foot-tapping number from the greatest Thamizh block-buster that ran from last year's Thamizh Varusha Pirappu (
keep your speakers on and enjoy this -
needs RealPlayer.
If the embedded video does not work on browsers other than IE, then you can go to this site and watch the video songs - I am playing the last one on that page).
Twister
I don't know how many of you have seen this
1996 movie about tornadoes, but I was reminded about this second most terrifying natural phenomenon (next only to Hurricanes) now that the annual warm weather season is upon us in the US and a broad swathe of states (called the "
Tornado Alley") is going to be affected for the next few months (
if you have never seen the movie, do rent it, as it is worth your while at least for the computer generated imagery of frightening twisters).
You can get a good handle on what a tornado is by looking up the
Wiki on that, but broadly it is a huge funnel from the sky to the earth accompanied by heavy showers and hail (which may be of the size of a golf
ball). Extremely destructive, it can virtually wipe out anything in its path including trees, houses, barns, power lines and more. Anything is fair game for this vortex of extremely fast spinning winds (the measurement scale is from F0 to F5, with F5 twisters packing winds greater than 200 miles/hour and at the higher end, have known to exceed 300 miles an hour) and so you can imagine something like an 18-wheel truck being effortlessly lifted off the ground and flung anywhere thereby converting it into a dangerous projectile. So is any kind of debris - wood from torn up houses/fences, tree barks, phone/power poles and anything else that is in the way.
Over land, these systems are called tornadoes and over water bodies like oceans and lakes, they are known as water spouts. In fact, hurricanes are usually accompanied by tornadoes after they make a landfall (known as "crossing the coast" in India) and not surprisingly,
Florida has the highest number of tornadoes
per unit area although more tornadoes occur in Texas than in any other state (due to its sheer size).
Tornadoes occur in India too although we don't get to read about them much owing to their infrequency.
On YouTube, I found this video of a tornado occurring in the midst of a football game somewhere in the far east but someone has written in the comments over there that it is more rightly called a "dust devil". Whatever it is, the people over there got a good scare and I wouldn't want to be anywhere near where this happens, whatever term it is called :-).
(Requires Flash to view and do keep your speakers ON)
Aside: I am reminded of this thing in cricket where Australia's erstwhile bowling star Jeff Thomson -
the fastest bowler in the world once upon a time (of the duo including Dennis Lillee) was called a Tornado owing to the awesome speed of his pace bowling (
he is reported to have topped nearly 100 miles per hour on a delivery and routinely used to bowl 90 mile per hour ones) . No batsman could stay long enough to withstand such assault but in spite of that, our very own Mohinder Amarnath, who was injured on the head by one of his balls came back and batted admirably to go on to make a great innings. So, Indians
can face up to tornadoes it seems :-).
Fold-a-bike
The Brompton Folding Bicycle - What a cool concept! (
via Saheli)
Random Observation #1I used to wonder why the "ladies finger" of India is not called as such in the US and goes by a much more unglamorous "okra". Only today at the Indian store when I was browsing thru the vegetables section it
dawned on me. Granting some obesity allowance even in a (previously called) "developing" country like India, the concept was more to highlight the slender frame of the vegetable as a form of comparison because of the "observed features" in the
general populace. But, if the vendaikkaai (bhindi) that is found here is called "ladies finger", I am sure a lot of women will take offense :-).
Future Shock
This
book by
Alvin Toffler has sold over 6 million copies and has been widely translated. What he wrote (Toffler's shortest definition of future shock is a personal perception of "
too much change in too short a period of time") more than three and a half decades back is turning out to be true and society is increasingly feeling the effects and stress of rapid change and information overload. But this post is not about that Future Shock.
Brace for a
really different Future Shock based on the
trends we are seeing today like
this. With insatiable demand for oil from growing economies like India and China on the one hand and political volatility/standoff or turmoil in oil exporting countries like Iraq, Iran, Nigeria and Venezuela on the other, oil prices are expected to continue their dizzying climb and may even top $262 a barrel in an extreme-case political scenario.
This pinches all of our pockets, right from the gas/petrol price we pay at the pump to the prices of various goods and services which are directly tied to the dependence on the transport industry to reach our door-steps to the price of our plane tickets and such. No wonder the world is turning towards alternative energy sources since this much of a reliance on oil from a few select sources is dangerous to the health of the global economy.
Enter
Ethanol. Ethanol is
Brazil's big success story in its quest for energy independence and in the not-so-distant future, it is expected that the US too would become a leading user of ethanol as President Bush gave some pointers in that direction in his
State of the Union address on "the advanced energy initiative". Also as there is much controversy regarding the health hazards of
MTBE as a fuel additive compared to the less harmful aspects of ethanol for the same, ethanol and other bio-fuels will increasingly come to occupy the minds of energy planners all over the world.
Of course, there will be critics of this quest too. Anybody remember the controversy in India regarding
Ramar Pillai and his herbal fuel? :-)
For the first time in the Indian blogosphere -
Indhiya valaippadhivugaLil (or valaippadhivulagil) mudhal muraiyaaga :-)
.Let me get straight to the point. This post is an audio one done by three bloggers -
Ganesh,
Robbie and yours truly. What is special about this is that while so far audio posts have been either karaoke songs sung from popular numbers or film songs sung without accompanying music, with some original compositions emanating from the Blogswara team (comprising many popular bloggers with a passion for music) but with time and distance playing a part in getting the final output,
for the first time three bloggers who are in the same area got together over a weekend and brought out an original Madras Gaana song in less than 24 hours (now you know the reason for my lack of a music post for the last weekend - I was busy getting creative about one :-)).
The lyrics were composed by me just a few days back based on an inspiration from a
post by Ram Viswanathan on a popular Gaana song doing the rounds in major TV channels these days in India. After hearing that song, I had commented on his blog that the song feels strangely "decent" and may usher in a genre of such songs. The next day as I was driving down to work, a thought struck me as to why not compose a similar one myself and this song came out in the time it took to pass three traffic lights (
averaging one minute a traffic light in my route to work :-)). I don't of course guarantee such output at any time in the near future :-) but these words came in a flow that somehow fit so snugly into a Gaana song that I had to make only minor modifications to it later (Ganesh helped with a couple of changes and Robbie composed an entire stanza which was added as the middle piece).
Ganesh did a great job of composing the music and both he and I also came up with a skit idea to add more punch to the situation that the Gaana song is set in (
which is about a seasoned Dada diffusing a potentially explosive situation between two rowdies). We had some anxious moments when doing this and at one point of time thought that all our precious hours in getting this out may have been wasted due to a software glitch but luckily Ganesh and Robbie managed to identify the bug and saved us from a potential disaster.
So, here is the song "
Saidapettai Mannaru" and you can find the lyrics below. Ganesh has a
post on it too and so does
Robbie.
Powered by
CastpostLyrics: Thennavan, Robbie ("Peechchaankaiya paaru......naarippoagum ooru")
Music: Ganesh
Singers: Ganesh (lead), Robbie, Thennavan
Skit script: Ganesh, Thennavan (Annathe - Ganesh; Kabali - Robbie; Mannaru - Thennavan)
Saidapettai Mannaru (nee)summaa vandhu ukkaarusandayai poattu mandayai poattaaallaarukkum baejaaruOotti valarththadhu aaruada aththai nenchu paaruunakku oNNu aagipponaarembha thagaraaruPeechchaankaiya paaruun raegai sollum nooruavichcha muttai theenju ponaanaarippoagum ooruDinaikkum veNum soaru (adhkku)veNaam akkappoaruroute-ai maaththi poava sollonamkku badaa joaruSaidapettai Mannaru (nee)
summaa vandhu ukkaaru
sandayai poattu mandayai poattaa
allaarukkum baejaaruSaidapettai Mannaru (nee)ippo rombha ushaaruThis was a totally enjoyable experience for me and good fun all the way. I thank Ganesh (alongwith his family) and Robbie for the great time that we had in literally pulling a rabbit out of the hat :-).
Holy Cow!
This may be a little dated (
isn't anything more than an hour old dated when measured in blog time :-)), but this news about a
purported English essay written by one of the candidates for a top civil services examination in Pakistan made for very hilarious reading (
link via Amit).
"He is the cow. The cow is a successful animal. Also he is 4 footed. And because he is female, he gives milks, but will do so when he is got child. He is same like-God, sacred to Hindus and useful to man. But he has got four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards. His whole body can be utilized for use. More so the milk. Milk comes from 4 taps attached to his basement. What can it do? Various ghee, butter, cream, curd, why and the condensed milk and so forth. Also he is useful to cobbler, water mans and mankind generally. His motion is slow only because he is of lazy species.
Also his other motion. Gober is much useful to trees, plants as well as for making flat cakes, in hand, and drying in the sun. Cow is the only animal that extricates his feeding after eating. Then afterwards he chew with his teeth whom are situated in the inside of the mouth. He is incessantly in the meadows in the grass. His only attacking and defending organ is the horns, specially so when he is got child. This is done by knowing his head whereby he causes the weapons to be paralleled to the ground of the earth and instantly proceed with great velocity forwards. He has got tails also, situated in the backyard, but not like similar animals. It has hairs on the other end of the other side. This is done to frighten away the flies which alight on his cohesive body hereupon he gives hit with it. The palms of his feet are soft unto the touch. So the grasses head is not crushed. At night time have poses by looking down on the ground and he shouts. His eyes and nose are like his other relatives. This is the cow."
ROTFL!
Some more Web 2.0 goodies
Arvind who works at
Zoho and keeps me informed of product developments at their Web 2.0 company sent me an email yesterday that their web-based spreadsheet application called
Zoho Sheet went into Public Beta mode. According to him, some of the features currently supported are (if you are into Excel or other spreadsheets, you may appreciate some of this):
- Create web spreadsheets (Zoho Sheets) and manage them online.
- Import any Excel spreadsheet and use it online.
- Export Zoho Sheet as Excel/Open Office Calc/CSV/PDF/HTML formats.
- Use any MS Excel style functions (sum, avg, etc). For autosum alone, a quick button on the toolbar has been provided. For the rest of the functions you can type in the formula. Note: All formulas start with an = sign.
- Format and decorate your cells with font styles, colors and different alignments.
- Create Charts/Graphs to analyze your data.
- Share your Zoho Sheets with your friends and control their access levels.
- RSS feeds for public sheets and sheets with specific tags.
What I see as a trend here is this. The online storage of documents and other data (think Gmail for email, Flickr for photos, Youtube for videos, Zoho - Writer for word processing files, Sheet for spreadsheets etc., Box.net for a virtual drive and such) will reach critical mass sometime in the near future and this will coincide with the growth of sophisticated mobile devices connected seamlessly to a wireless Internet that will enable more mobility to the average worker, thereby making the concept of home-office or virtual-workplace a widespread phenomenon. We will see all this happening in our lifetime but the next generation will have it even easier and will take these things for granted. Science-fiction merging with reality perhaps.
On another technology note, the news of
Apple OKaying Intel-Macs to run Windows XP should be music to the ears of many. For far too long, the platforms have always been that you can have either one but not both. That limitation is now being overcome and Apple is already the cynosure of all eyes ever since the iPod came out. Having extensively used both Macs and PCs in a networked environment, I always have special affection for Apple's products because they are marvellous pieces of engineering, both on the outside and the inside. This latest move which is one in a series of smart moves taken by Apple ever since the company regrouped under Steve Jobs is all about customer lock-in, something that is only too familiar to another company which is better known as the Redmond giant :-).
God's own country
These are extremely picturesque images of the
Kerala rivers (puzha) and backwaters captured thru the lens of someone with a professional touch. I thank
Rubic_Cube for forwarding them to me and envy such people as
Jo, my Kerala blogger buddy who has had the good fortune of being born (and living daily) in the
Parasurama Kshetram. (
Click on each to open bigger in a new window. All copyrights and photocredits vest with whoever took these photos; I am just showcasing their work)
This southwestern strip of land in India is truly "
Shyama sundara kera kedara bhoomi" - I have been hunting high and low on the web without luck for this song that I heard a long while back in India. If anyone can help me hear it (even a streaming version is ok if a download is not possible), I would appreciate that.
P.S. Today also happens to be the day when all the numerals line up twice (and they already did) - 01:02:03 04/05/06 (US date format) :-).
The tide has (finally) turned
The "
handsome Indian blogger" post thingy (the one before the previous) made me come up with some impromptu imaginative stuff regarding matrimonial ads.
Matrimonial ad of a previous era:
Parents of a pretty, demure and pious bride seek alliances from parents of tall, professionally qualified and MNC/foreign employed grooms earning a handsome salary. Send BHP to Box No. XYZ.
Matrimonial ad of a post-blogging era:
Bold and beautiful Indian blogger ISO dashing and handsome Indian blogger. The following rules apply:
1. Do not apply if you have been blogging for less than a year.
2. Do not apply if you have been blogrolled by less than a hundred bloggers.
3. Do not apply if your average comments per post are less than 10 (send complete post to comments ratio for the past one week).
4. Do not apply if your blog has less than 500 visitors per day and/or your total page views are less than 1000 per day (site statistics required).
5. Do not apply if your Yahoo Publisher network or Google Adsense ad revenues are less than a thousand dollars in the last three months.
6. Do not apply if you are not in the same time zone as I am (I don't believe in unnecessarily burning jet fuel for a two-person blogger meet).
7. Do not apply if your blog does not appear on the first page of Google's search results when I type in your name (in other words, the higher your Pagerank, the higher my inclination to include you in my list of suitors). You must be among the top 5% of bloggers in your peer group.
8. If you are a 24x7 blogger, it is important that you furnish the most recent bank statement showing sufficient assets (adjusted for inflation) to run a family of four for a lifetime.
9. Your blog should have a healthy mix of topics - nerds and geeks, please excuse. On second thoughts, that is too feminine and mild - losers, go take a walk.
10. You should have exceptional communication skills - absolutely no grammatical errors, typos or punctuation snafus. The ability to consistently use the right turn of phrase to articulate your thoughts will be evaluated and your overall presentation skills will be critically judged. Send writing samples or permalinks of your last three posts along with a recent passport size color pic (front facing and with clearly visible features) to this email address.
If all the above conditions are met, congratulations, you have cleared the preliminary round in my mate selection process.
:-)
A mini Y2K problem in the making?
Now that we have started to observe
Daylight Saving Time (DST) thru much of the western hemisphere (and some countries in Australasia) from this time of the year, a thought struck me about the year 2007 since I remembered that President Bush signed into law a broad energy bill that includes changing the dates on the DST and (the subsequent switchback to) the Standard Time beginning next year.
According to this new rule, the clocks will be set forward by one hour much earlier - beginning the second Sunday of March itself (from the current first Sunday of April) and again they would revert to standard time later - on the first Sunday in November (from the present last Sunday in October). Of course, this is all supposedly driven by the need for energy savings and so, that has to be shown when the U.S. Department of Energy completes a study of the impact of the change and if it doesn't show results, Congress may go back to the schedule set in 1986.
What struck me was the fact that millions of computers and other devices now have built-in rules (based on the previous schedule) that enable them to switch to these times automatically. How this change will affect them is a big question. Of course, operating systems (like Windows) that can always download patches can be self-correcting and cell phones usually pick up their network time but there are a myriad other devices that may need some sort of manual adjustment, like in the case of CNC (Computerized Numerically Controlled) kind of industrial equipment that are not on a network and would thus have to be updated manually.
Does this present a business opportunity? Who knows, but remember that if this gets talked about a lot by the media in the months ahead, you came to know about it here first :-).
Hope Google isn't playing an April 1 prank on me
Of all the searches that have led people to my blog, someone made my day today by using
this!
Really, am I at the top of the heap? :-)
Tip to searcher(s): Please don't take Google seriously (at least not all the time) ;-).
