Writing

Vairumuthu writes, " Vayitrukkum thondaikkum uruvamillaadhoru urundayum uruludhadi " - the lump that rolls between the stomach and throat, to describe love. That description seems appropriate to what I feel while writing. The lump is between the head and mouth. the written word always fails me.

Top 5

" But he is an ocean, how can one anyone pick from that?". " He is an institution by himself". " He is god". " Avar oru adhsiya piravi".

- Since we are normal we didnt answer any of the above when a friend asked what our top Kamal's 5 movies would be instead jumped straight at the opportunity . The restaurant we sat in hardly offered anything nice. I had gotten excited by the name and expected some local favorites( what exactly is Madurai special for anyway in terms of food), all it had to offer was regular fare and the taste nothing to remember by.

So there, we resorted back to our favorite conversation - cinema. The friend was a Kamal fan - probably posed it to answer his own. Infact all three of us were just to eager to provide our list that when we stepped out after an hour the third friend(one of my very close friends) had to stomp her legs saying she hasnt started the list yet.

Anyway here is my list which is pretty much every one else's list as well except I havent seen Kuruthi punal yet(What??? - yes, I havent. Go ahead, take a gun, watever!).

Kamal as a director comes much before the actor. I grew up in a household that was Kamal katchi during the major Kamal-Rajini fan fights then. Somehow his acting doesnt work for me. There is something about the mannerisms -anyway i dont rate him as a sub par actor, just that he isnt someone i enjoy looking at screen but this is slowly changing.

1. Hey Ram:

As a black car proceeds, a mob of muslims triy to attack the car. On getting closer, some one from the mob - Kamal's tailor sees him in car. He saves Kamal that moment. Later in the day, the same tailor who had saved Kamal's life in the morning does the worst to his wife in the night.

It is hard to forget the tailor's answer when later Kamal goes on a revenge spree. Off all the movies that came on religious fundamentalism nothing comes close to explaining the mob mentality as this one. Normal human beings turning into monsters given the moment!

Strangely I was told this film was against Gandhi when it released. It took fellow grad student's words few years later who described it as the biggest tribute to Gandhi to make me watch the film. By then I was no longer a big Gandhi Fan. Both the opinions got corrected that day. It is his biggest tribute.

2. Virumandi
Rashomon wasnt for me. This theme hit me so much better. weaving it against capital punishment was the right addition. Pasupathy gave a wonderful performance - well so did everyone.

After these two movies, I have no clue why he wont direct more. I was eagerly waiting for Marma yogi but that movie had to get cancelled!

3. Michael Madana Kamarajan
- Did you know this movie was a flop? I mean can you believe it? Its our family favorite, asmy mom puts it, " evlow thadava pathalam salikathu".

4. Thevar Magan
- one of the finest points about Kamal as a writer/Director is the way he catches the intense human moments. It always surprises me because in interviews he sounds so out of touch , so in vain yet his movies display a deep understanding. The following scene says it all when Sivaji reacts to Kamal - his son in the movie refers to his death.



5. Nayagan
This @5? but then I always view it as a Maniratnam movie. But one cannot imagine any one doing a Nayagan as well even today.

Pesum Padam gets an honorary mention as well - just for the gift wrap scene.

I wont let you guys stomp your feat - please tell me yours and none of the first mentioned bullshit answers, I hope.

Sky is falling too

" Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a benchmark report that was claimed to incorporate the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming. A central claim was the world's glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035.

In the past few days the scientists behind the warning have admitted that it was based on a news story in the New Scientist, a popular science journal, published eight years before the IPCC's 2007 report.

It has also emerged that the New Scientist report was itself based on a short telephone interview with Syed Hasnain, a little-known Indian scientist then based at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

Hasnain has since admitted that the claim was "speculation" and was not supported by any formal research..." - Timesonline

Like how my neighbourhood Aunty heard from her daughter B's son's girlfriend's help about Z's affairs, so Z's affairs must be true.

Sachu Kichu should head Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Trust me she has all the capacuties.

Argh....

Women!

what i heard.

"So, S got married."

" Yeah, but... "

" but what?"

" elladi, they asked for Rs. 50,000 and 50 sovereigns. Who asks for that these days? but i guess it should ok, it is good atleast they are not being picky"

" oh, ok".

" Wait a minute, the guy lives here and asked 50,000Rs dowry? like 1000$?"

I recommend rejecting him on the basis of financial prudence before moral values come into the picture.
*****

" coimbatore payyan. poium poium oru pakistani ponnu oda suthran"
" Drohi, desadrohi!"

***
" Entha website matum work panna matengathu, ennanu pakarela?"
" wire mathi try panlama?"

India, Pakistan and an american writer

"..

India was supporting the Northern Alliance against the Taliban long before the events of 9/11, and it has been providing a great deal of reconstruction aid since the Taliban were removed. It has excellent sources of intelligence in the region and is itself a frequent target of the very same forces against which we are committed to fight. Its national parliament, the multifariously pluralistic and democratic Lok Sabha, was the target of a massive car bomb attack in the fall of 2001, its large embassy in Kabul has been singled out for special attention from the Taliban/al-Qaida alliance, and of course we must never forget Mumbai. Nor ought we to forget that India's massive economic and military power on the subcontinent is accompanied by a system of regular elections, a free press, a secular constitution under which almost as many Muslims live as live in Pakistan, and a business class that extends all the way to Silicon Valley and uses the English language.

Of Pakistan, a state that has flirted with the word failure ever since its inception, it is not possible to speak in the same terms. Only with the greatest reluctance does it withdraw its troops from the front with India in Kashmir, the confrontation that is the main obsession of its overmighty and Punjabi-dominated officer corps. This same corps makes no secret of its second obsession, which is the attainment of a pro-Pakistani regime in Kabul. (This objective, too, is determined by the desire to acquire Afghanistan for the purpose of "strategic depth" in the fight with India.) The original Talibanization of Afghanistan was itself an official project of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, and the CIA has spent the last eight years admitting, or in some cases discovering, what everyone else already knew: that the Taliban still enjoy barely concealed support from the same highly placed Pakistani institutions."

Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2236951/?from=rss

- I thought surely it must be written by an Indian, only to scroll up and see the name Christopher Hitchens.

(found the link from neoindian's tweets).

Apparently there are people who are fans of chetan bhagat after reading five point someone!

The mandatory stomach-burn inducing post

Puri -potato, Idli - thakali chutney with chinna vengaya sambar, Masal dosai, Rava dosai, cheppakizhangu, kathrika gothsu... the list continues with 4 dishes on the table at any given meal for the past 10 days.

ha haa... thats my evil laugh.

Go ahead, Have a happy year, guys:)