The ‘D’ Silent!

Blood. Gore. Magical Camera angles. Long conversations. Extraordinary performances. Chapters in movies. Still unable to comprehend whom I’m talking about? Of course, Its Quentin Tarantino. One guy who has shattered all the beliefs about the handling of screenplay and his characters. He is one of those very few film-makers who could be seen as ‘Trend setters’. My knowledge of the Hollywood has grown up along with his movies. Almost all his movies are ‘R’ rated. Most people may not like his way of film making. But this is the very thing which excites me whenever I see his movies. Its takes something more than ordinary perspective to scale his creations.

Django Unchained is the latest ride from Tarantino. In this movie, Tarantino as a director competes so hard with Tarantino as a script writer. If any of us want to know what a director can do to an actor, check out Leonardo DiCaprio in this movie. His face is full of vehemence, his eyes shining with cruelty and dark humour. He has entered into a new charisma, a splendid one. If you have seen Titanic, Catch me If you can, Shutter Island, Inception, then you will know how far the actor has transformed himself in Django.

A good director is the one who unearths the hidden potential from an actor. Maniratnam did that to Rajnikanth in Thalapathi, Brian de Palma did that to Al Pacino in Scarface. Scorcese did that to Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. Now, Tarantino does the same to DiCaprio in Django Unchained.

If DiCaprio is the sly snake, then Christopher Waltz is the invincible hawk! What an actor you are sir! You are the discovery of Quentin in Inglorious Basterds and won Academy award for the same most fittingly. Another spell bounding performance from him as the Bounty hunter Dr.Schultz. When we see Waltz and DiCaprio in the single frame, it is like standing in front of a double barrelled gun and getting blown away by their screen presence!

Amidst all these talent pool, there lies the old but not-so-old Samuel Jackson. The man who played the protagonist of Pulp Fiction has delivered another cracker here. You will end up hating his character Stevens so much that the Director wins at each frame. Screenplay will take you to a roller coaster ride till the last 30 minutes. And then Tarantino has proved in showing what he is best at showing. Blood spatters! Flesh explosions! Guns.. Bullets.. Magazines.. Quentin makes a special climax for his own character in this movie. The German myth of Broomhilda is well crafted into Django Unchained.

Oscar or no oscar. This movie will live as one of the greatest movies made of all-time. Quentin.. StanD anD DelivereD. The D is not silent. Not anymore!

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Granny Stories : A Pot of Gold

One fine morning,  Thangasaamy was walking along the road to Panaiyur. He is 5 feet, unshaved and walking with such an unwanted haste. This particular road is quite popular because of the forest accompanied with it. He made his bread by changing roofs and other wood work. He was thinking of his particular countenance with his wife this morning. She shouted at  rage as he failed to buy the pulses needed for their food. He thought he is done with his marriage life. At that time, his neighbour came to him and told that a roof work is there in the next town, Panaiyur. Thangasaamy accepted the work without a second thought. 


Panaiyur is a small village located at the outskirts of Poompuhar, the coastal city of Chola period. The village has all kinds of occupations soaring under the rule of the new King. Thus, he is on this very road, walking with the plans to  earn money, convince his wife by not letting their family to starve ever. Like all the forest roads of our ancient Tamil Nadu, people have built a Ayyanar temple in this road to protect the people from ill souls. 


Just as he crossed the temple, he heard a strong but cautious voice – “Stop!” 


Thangasaamy lost his balance. He is so sure that the voice came from the Ayyanar itself. A conversation with the God is not in his calendar of events. He tried to slip away. Again the voice stopped him. 


He brought some courage to himself, steadied his feet and asked – “What do you want from me? I’m bankrupt.” 


“Thangasaamy.. I know about you.  Do you know what lies under your feet?” 


He suddenly became aware of the ground. He wanted to run away, only to be stopped by Ayyanar’s voice. 


He asked in a feeble voice - “What is there?” 


Ayyanar replied “Well, how fast can you dig?” 


Thangasaamy bent down immediately and dug with all his might till his hands touched something which felt like clay. He found a pot wrapped with a yellow cloth. He unwrapped it. The pot is filled with gold coins, glowing under his greedy eyes. He emptied the entire pot inside his bag and threw back the pot to its place and began to run. 


The voice paralysed him this time. “Stop. You can’t get away with everything. Keep as much gold as your heart might wish to give to another person. Or else, you can’t move from here.”

Thangasaamy knew that it is an order. With wretched heart, he took four coins, counted them thrice and put it back in the pot. He closed the pit, thanked Ayyanar and walked away.

     Ponnammaal is a lady at her mid thirties. In Panaiyur, she is known for her good deeds as a Siddha doctor. Her life goal is to open a hospital and help the people. But, she doesn’t have the funds to initiate it. She prayed everyday to bring her dreams into reality. She led a life of happiness. She used to sleep for 6 hours everyday. But, last night it was different. At 11PM, she heard sounds of broken roof and got up. She was alarmed only to find coconut and broken roof pieces on her kitchen house floor. So, she waked her husband, asked him to repair the roof by morning. When Thangasaamy came, he asked her to keep his bag at a safe place and started the work. He told that the bag contains pulses for his dinner. So, she tied the bag under the same roof which is repaired. He wanted to finish the job as soon as possible and sell the gold pot. He worked hastily, without concentration, his mind full of thoughts of gold. He already started searching for a goldsmith shop in his mind. In his unaccepted stroke of luck, he forgot about the bag which is tied under the roof he is working. 


When Thangasaamy was working, she was cooking at the kitchen. Suddenly, she realized that her own supply of pulses has run out and she forgot to buy new supply in this broken-roof affair. She thought of Thangasaamy’s bag. She decided to take his pulses and later she can replace them when her husband returns from shop. So, she untied the bag from the roof, opened it. She found golden coins. She sat. Sweat pulses glittered on her nose tips.  No doubt, her lifetime prayers have paid off. She thanked God for turning a pot of pulse into Gold. Touch of gold brought up a change of mind. She emptied the whole bag, went to grocery shop, refilled it with pulses and tied it to the roof. She sighed. She will start a hospital soon.  


By evening, Ponnammaal’s house got its roof back. She paid him his salary and returned his bag. When he lifted his bag, he found it lighter than he did in morning. He untied and found pulses. All his imaginations shattered. Tongue tied due to his lie, he left the house with cold-heart. He reached the forest road, blaming the fate. As he crossed the Ayyanar temple, he heard that voice for the second time that day. 


“Stop!” 


Exploded with betrayal and anger, he asked - “If I doesn’t deserve the gold, then why give it to me?” He shouted back. “See, what have you done to me? All my hopes are shattered like a fort of sand.” 


Ayyanar replied in a calm soothing voice –"Every person deserves what his heart desires to give away.” “That gold is deserved to that lady. You are just a medium of transport.” 


Thangasaamy was on the edge of tears. Ayyanar continued – “Don’t worry. Everyone will get what they deserve. Go and take the pot which you kept in the morning.” 


With that, a abrupt silence filled the forest road. Ayyanar is gone. 


Thangasaamy blamed his memory for forgetting the four gold coins which he kept back in the pot. Suddenly, he cursed his greed for keeping just four coins. 


He realized what Ayyanar’s words really meant. God will give you only if you are ready to give away. He chose his luck of four coins. He wrote his own fate.  He happily took the coins and started to his house. His eyes are no more searching for a goldsmith. They are searching for a grocery shop. 


His eyes are devoid of vanity. Finally.

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War of the Colas - Fire in the hole for Mountain Dew

Who told it is easy to run a Cola company?


Coke and Pepsi are the DMK and ADMK of the Cola business. The war of brands between Pepsi and Coke is as old as the one between Tom and Jerry. Both are posting millions of dollars of profit every year. But, then have you read the first line? What makes it difficult to run a Cola company? Cola is served as the next best drink after water. 95% of Americans are Cola drinkers. Then where lies the risk?


Survival of every product is mainly based on the USP contribution to its consumer. Fact is that there is no basic USP attached with the Cola drinks. People could just go with the soda and breweries. Hence, the existence of a Cola company entirely depends on the brand management and advertising associated with it. Cola sales are directly proportional to the public mindset. They have to make the consumer believe that their drink is unique, which is not in fact! Downfall for the company, otherwise. As an added headache, when the chips are down, health activists will spread the awareness about the excess calories and potential hazards present in Cola. When the TRP rating is down and the people have nothing to chew, media will take the dusted issue of caffeine content present in Colas,  polish it and keep the shows going on. They will sponsor talk shows in which limelight guys will talk about the various side effects of Cola. Audience will end up comparing Cola with bleaching liquid. All such stuffs will be carried out till the commencement of the next important Cricket tour or the next polls and scams. Again, brand-angels like Aamir and MSD will repair the damage done by the media and the mentality of the people will change. Again. Oh wait. Who are these people? What makes them? Whatever offered to them makes them. And such an offer is decided mostly by the businessmen, not the activists.


In addition to the above mentioned foes, it is not so often we see one Cola company taking a dig at the other. Pepsi, the company which is named after the digestive enzyme Pepsin, is the first company to understand the potential risks associated with running a carbonated drinks company. They forayed into the FMCG sector long ago with products like Lays, Aquafina, Lipton and Quaker Oats. Coca Cola on the other hand has a wide portfolio of more than 3500 beverages in its pocket. 

Both are known for their long stand rivalry in advertising their products. One of the famous brand war has happened between Pepsi and Coke. I'll rate the one between Coke's Sprite and Pepsi's Mountain Dew as the second best. Mountain Dew appealed to the little adventurer hiding within every Indian. The brand projected itself as the contender of doing the impossible with no fear. In contrast, Sprite mocked the dare associated with Mountain Dew. It projected itself as the drink of people's clear senses. But, in the long run, it is the adventurer who will take over the Smart-Dude. Coke knew this so well. Hence, it decided to launch another cannon on its rival Mountain Dew. This time, it is not the Cool guy Sprite. But it opted for a rough and tough Thumps Up. Believe it or not, Thumps Up is the largest selling Cola drink in India. 

The difference between the themes of Mountain Dew and Thumps Up are so thin. In Mountain Dew, the adventure staged is projected as a result of their drink. In Thumps Up, the person is projected to go to any limits to possess their drink. Now, the latest move by Coke has diminished this thin difference. Now, Thumps Up joins the line of Mountain Dew, but with a little youth revolutionary flavor peppered all over it. Replacement of Akshay by Mahesh Babu and the drop of 'Taste the Thunder' slogan tells the whole story. Coke has got the strategy right in nailing the Mountain Dew's coffin. I feel, the double barreled pistol of Coke is enough to fire the PepsiCo. But Pepsi is not dumb either.


Health hazards. Media. People Mindset. Scorching rivals. Advertisements with costliest brand ambassadors. Brand dependency. 


Well, Who told it is easy to run a Cola company?

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Post night Post

My Titan is glowing with 4.10a.m. I thank the Curie couple. My body is functioning like an Indian parliament. Dormant. But, My mind is working like an Indian bedroom. Over Time.  I am here, lying down and trying to sleep.. Or is it? What am I trying to do? I dunno for sure. Nights are capable of giving life to the dormant memories fossilized in our heart! Nights are dark. They are quiet. Probably our brain shouts its inherent thoughts when the earth is whispering to the moon! As I write this sentence, I begin to think about the famous creators created by this night. Theoretically, everyone is meant to be created at night.  Big shots inclusive. To hell with my humor. At this moment, most of the people will be wide awake, saying a silent-same-pinch to me. I think of my friend in USA, who is actually in a different time frame and it is daytime for him. So what really is time? Few thousand miles are capable of bringing different calendars to different people. Perhaps the time should be measured by keeping the people as constant. I wonder about the way our life is deciphered.  Philosophy is puked from my mind. I think that the nights extend to life and the days diminish to death. I think this. I think that. I think all.

Nights are dark. Dark is black. Black is capable of absorbing anything and everything which comes to it. Nights are capable of bringing back our memories and sucking our joy or sorrow. Black is a color parasite! Night is an emotion parasite.

Oh, what am I doing? I got stuck in this vicious cycle of thoughts. Again my thoughts come back to time. When I think of it, time is like a feminine brain. It is a constantly changing variable. Time is perceived based on perception geography,  environmental physics and mental chemistry. Time is Einsteined! In time, I wanna embrace the sleep which is seducing me for a while. I wanna forget everything and just sleep all the way. In spite of that feeling, I am not welcoming the sleep to my mental condominium. Such a meta-state between sleep and awake is similar to the limbo oscillating between life and death. Meta-states are highly unstable. My chemistry professor has taught me that electrons acquire motion in such meta states. Electrons radiate from atom. Thoughts radiate from grey matter. Such electric thoughts are known as philosophy. I am asleep. I am awake. Yes I am a philosopher!

Suddenly my conscious pops out of my shirt, just like the way I have seen in the movies and it starts to do self-advising. It says -"If you really do what your heart craves to do, then you are in the real heaven". As I blink, it transfigures itself into my Mathematical teacher. It goes back and writes this formula in thin air.

Happiness Quotient = No. of actions performed / No. of actions desired by our heart.

Omg, the air is not thin anymore! Revelations. And it pops in back inside my Indian Terrain. At some distant, my brain is shouting at me that my present action is more of a blabbering than real thinking.
But, I.Really.Do.Not.Care.As.Long.As.It.Makes.Sense.To.Me! My thinking tank takes pity on me. Tired of philosophies, my body takes control over my mind. My blinking rate becomes directly proportional to our interests in studies. My muscles act as if I'm their college professor. Yet, I am going to be awake...in my dreams. I decide to do what I would like to do. I give up to sleep. To improve my happiness quotient, I am entering heaven. Dot.

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'Aam Aadmi & The Art of Management' by Antony Dilip

Antony Dilip,  Jan 30 2012, Chennai

Indian tea stalls have become one of unique characteristics of this great Nation. In any part of the country they are the “hot-spots” of busy alleys where you can meet different and distinct people. Once on a rainy evening, I entered a tea shop which had every feature of a perfect Indian tea stall. Discs of biscuits arranged inside glass jars, different flavors of tea bags, hot bronze boilers, kettles blowing out steams, hot kaadai on a kerosene burner, wooden benches, pile of news papers, group discussion, politics and a stray dog sleeping at the entrance. The tea master (that is the w! ay one calls the person who makes you tea. Maybe he masters it very well that he can make a really long tea) happened to be the owner of the shop had a welcoming smile. I ordered a “cup of tea”. He replied, “Hot bhajjis ready for you sir, two minutes”. He spoke Tamil with a Malayalam accent and had a Chandan on his forehead; I don’t have to be Holmes or need Watson’s help to conclude that he is from Kerala. I wasn’t hungry but his pleasant offer made me order a plate of bhajji.  With the very first bite of the bhajji, I realized that it had coconut oil and it was made of the banana fruit. This is not the usual “roasted-batter -coated plantain”. I didn’t like this new flavor, so I threw them into the dustbin. Then I ordered few butter-biscuits and asked for the bill. The bill was not a computerized paper with a neat tabular column with rows of products bought and their rates across them. Also I did not have separate mention about the tot! al, “service” tax, round-off and the grand Total.  It was just a chit with numbers scribbled on it showing no distinction between the numbers 4 and 6. The bill was 10 rupees and I realized that he had missed to enter the bhajji’s price. When I told him that he had missed the bhajji in the bill, he said “You did not eat, so you don’t have to pay”. I was shocked; a sense of guilt had filled my heart and mind.  I wanted to apologize, so I told him “Annachi I m sorry. I will pay for the bhajjis too”. But he gave the same reply with a smile and added,” I will get paid only when you are satisfied with my service”. Oh my god! What is happening? Did this tea-master learn about customer satisfaction in IIM –A before starting his tea-stall? Or does he really belong to the middle class who lament about the surging food prices? Or is it because he is from the state of Kerala which has the highest literacy rate? Before I could reiterate, I saw something else in the tea shop which I had not noticed all this while. Babuji, father of this great Nation, was smiling from a 30x35 frame and was embellished with a fresh garland. I smiled in return. I left the shop paying for what I was asked for. 

That night I did not sleep.

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The Author of this post  is my close friend. I know him for the past 7 years. Currently, he is working as a Software Engineer in iNautix. He is a natural leader who loves to see/bring positive changes in our society. He believes in reforming our  administrative system for the upbringing of a better world.  A selfish dream, when realized has the potential to uplift only our lives. But, a selfless social dream, when realized, has the potential to uplift the society we live on, thereby providing real improvement in our lives. Our Author falls in the latter category.

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Nanban is well

Pre-Nanban release:
"Shankar is a great creator. Why does he wants to do a remake when people like Jeyam Raja are there for that particular purpose already?"
"Vijay? Casted as the scientist played by Aamir? Don't joke man. It is bullshit! Surya will be the opt guy for such intellectual characters"
"When is the last time you watched a Vijay movie without making fun of him?"

Post-Nanban release:
"Shankar proves once again that he has ability to deliver a successful message sandwiched inside a boxoffice hit"
"Vijay at his best eventhough there is not a single punch dialogue or a single action sequence"
"Just like any other Vijay movie, we ended up laughing continuously for the entire time. But he is not the source this time"

Casting:
When it comes to casting Shankar has always been a forerunner on Tamil cinema. Examples like Nambiyar on Gentleman, Radhika in Jeans shows his thirdeye to cast the actors. In Nanban, a movie-goer will not think odd to see Vijay as the intellectual. And that is the victory gained for Shankar's casting and directorial genius.

Script:
Screenplay of 3 idiots is used exactly as it is. Changes in dialogues gives the regional flavour to the film. Shankar and Madhan karky does their best here.

Cinematography:
My favorite cinematographer Manoj Paramahansa has lifted the lens for Nanban. In Eeram and VTV, he had the scope to exercise his innovations. But he did a great job for a entertainer like Nanban. Visuals never felt awkward in a single roll, unlike the experience of usual remake movies.

Art:
This is one of those departments which hasn't had a great show in original 3-idiots. Being a Shankar movie, Nanban has the gigantic sets in songs. Sets erected for Asku laska and Ileana songs shows the exemplary ground work done by the art department.

Music and Audiography:
Harris Jayaraj has exceeded his expectations in all the song numbers. Hear 'En friend ah pola' song with full bass and you will know how close competitor it is to the 'Mustafa' song. His background score is weaved close to the story-flow. Oscar winner Resul Pookutty has shown his adept at the audiography. Techniques like echo and amplification are used for particular scenes where the hero intends to tell a message to the audience.

Acting:
Acting department is under the radar of some directorial genius like Shankar. He shows how to get the best out of actors like Satyaraj and Vijay. Even Jiiva does proves his skills.

Direction:
Not to mention too much about Shankar, he has carved a great flick. Successful placement of Ileana song just before the emotional climax shows his mettle to give a masala mix to any story. Asku-laska song will be a visual treat to Shankar audience where he rectifies the limitations posed by 3 idiots script on his grandiose visualisations.

Everyone in the age group of 20 - 35 would have seen 3 idiots. It is one of those rare movies with a wide audience reach. I have watched 3 idiots four times and when I watched Nanban, I neither felt bored nor I thought of Nanban as a waste remake. Even to set a benchmark in remakes, we need Shankar.
He neither made Vijay to fly nor to fight. But he made him to act. There lies the greatest success of Shankar. 

Verdict:
Nanban - A successful remake. A remake of Shankar's success.

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The Fountainhead & Bhagavat Gita - A Compare and Contrast

The Fountainhead is a famous philosophical novel written by Miss.Ayn Rand. It is based on the concept of individualism and epistemology.

An excerpt from Ayn Rand's  Philosophical Pinnacle - The Fountainhead:

Howard Roark: "Before you can do things for people, you must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the people! Your own work, not any possible object of your charity. I'll be glad if men who need it find a better method of living in the house I built, but that's not the motive of my work, nor my reason, nor my reward! My reward, my purpose, my life, is the work itself - my work done my way! Nothing else matters to me!"

What defines a man? How a person is judged? Which scale is used to measure him?

A man is defined by the way he communicates to the nature. The way he responds to the input gained from this universe. And what defines his responses? Responses are based on the array of things he noticed/experienced/learnt/did/influence/influenced from his childhood. In short, a man is defined by what he does. 

 People do things all the while. Action composes the materialistic world. Inaction is also an action performed in the state of hibernation. A man's action is born with his birth and dies with his death. It is the intermediate time between birth and death which injects meaning to a person's inane life. One must do only those things which makes him/her happy. Performing an action under compulsion is the greatest insult you spit on the face of truth. Be yourself. Everyone and everything is unique in this world. Everyone is gifted with some skills to perform their own actions. Chaos emerges when man fails to recognize what he is destined to do and decides to take other person's route. Doing something just because everyone else do the same spoils the real purpose of God's creation.  In our human body, every organ does some unique function. If nose gets envy of the delicious food chewed by its neighbor mouth and decides to refuse oxygen, it chooses its own demise. Even the blood groups are unique. None of the animals copy from others. They learn to do the basic actions like locomotion, reproduction and food-intake from their counterparts. But they never copy when it comes to choosing their destiny. They act only to fulfill their need of the hour. They short sell their actions in the life stock market. But, man, being the zenith of species, must live for a cause. He must be a longterm investor. Otherwise, he will lose his own definition of human being. He must remember that the sole purpose of human being is being human and being human is determined by our actions.

A creator conceives what his mind imagines, thereby opening the doors of our world to a new invention. He is the prime-mover of the world. A second-hander depends upon the creator for his lifeneeds. An action takes the straight route for a creator and it takes a proxy for a second-hander. 

 In Miss. Rand's words -

"The creator faces nature alone. The parasite faces nature through an intermediary."

Such an intermediary is viewed as an act of charity by Bhagavat Gita and it is viewed as an act of killing the action by The Fountainhead. Never forget that the uncharitable Steve Jobs is hailed as the game-changer above the charitable Bill Gates. Steve Jobs criticized Mr.Gates as follows– “Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology. He just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas.” Steve Jobs is the closest match for Rand’s Roark. 

Bhagavat Gita is the famous teachings of Lord Krishna to Arjuna in Kurukshetra. When Arjuna feared to do his duties in the battleground, Krishna told him the essence of karma yoga. Here, Man's action is defined as the 'Karma'.  People are here to do the actions to be performed. Both the books talk volume about the integrity associated with performing our actions. They say that the destined action is the greatest yoga ever done on any altar. This is where The Fountainhead and The Bhagavat Gita clasp their hands together. Rand says - ‘Feed the need, not because they depend on you, but because you like the action of public service.  Service is the action itself. Not the resultant of it.’ Krishna says – ‘Action must be performed without the dependence of its resultant'. My reward is the work itself.

In contrast to the above similarities between the two books of our discussion, Upanishads order men to be humble and selfless. But, The Fountainhead states that the man must be the proudest of all the creatures in our world. Because, he knows the purpose of his actions. He knows the effects and impact it can cause to his milieu. He can understand that performing an action is not just a transfer of energy from one form to another. But it is taking the current form of energy to the next level.

 Human mind could be the angel's philosopher stone or it could be the devil's horcrux. In Roark's conclusive speech, Ayn Rand states the following about human mind and its importance to stay aloof.  

"Man cannot survive except through his mind. He comes on earth unarmed. His brain is his only weapon. But the mind is an attribute of the individual, there is no such thing as a collective brain. The man who thinks must think and act on his own. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot not be subordinated to the needs, opinions, or wishes of others. It is not an object of sacrifice."   

According to Bhagavat Gita, man must perform him karma in order to attain mukthi. It is the method of associating a humble man with the supreme universe. According to The Fountainhead, man must realize his mukthi in his karma. It is the method of associating the vast universe with the reverence of man’s superiority. 

Howard Roark could have been the Lord Krishna of our century.  But he won't, because there is only one Roark and only one Krishna.

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மௌனப் பேச்சு

சிந்தனை நியூரான்கள் பெற்றெடுத்த

டெசிபல் அற்ற குழந்தை!

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Dear Steve, iSalute you.

When the whole world is get caught with the egotistic 'I', here is a man who selected an humble 'i' and used it to improve the living standards of egotistic 'I'.

Steve Jobs - The Man who digitized our lives forever. The Man who made the most successful business model after Benjamin Franklin. The Man who showed the world how a simple attire of Black Tee and blue denim is enough for a business presentation. The Man who changed the dimensions of sales and marketing. The Man who showed that 10 years is enough to build the most valuable company in the world.

Steve Jobs is the boon given to mankind. He is one of those rarest soothsayers with a great technological insight. It is an inevitable truth that Apple products has simplified our lives. They predefined the laws governing the user-experience. Steve, with Mac, you defined UI, with Pixar, you defined animation, with iPod you showed the bliss of music, with iPhone you re-invented the mobile phone and with iPad, you redefined the tablets.

A true contributor is one whose life has the profound effect on improving the lives of others. Steve, you are a true contributor. Due to your contributions, you have immortalized yourself among us. You wrote your own lament with the innovations you passed to your future  generations. You have made the world a better place to live in. 

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs.

Mr.Jobs is the Man who made every software engineer to raise their heads proudly. Being an engineer, today iSalute the greatest leader of digital era, with my head lowered, my heart full of gratitude, and my soul happy for sharing my life during your time frame. Steve, we vow you too much. May your soul rest in peace.

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me. My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”

-Steve Jobs.

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பிறந்தது கவிதை!

நட்சத்திரத்துக்கு ரெக்கை முளைத்தது

பிறந்தது மின்மினிப் பூச்சி!

அன்னையின் அன்பு போதையில்

தள்ளாடியது தொட்டில் - மழலைக்கு

பிறந்தது தூக்கம்!

மனம் கொள்ளை

பிறந்தது காதல்!

மணல் கொள்ளை

பிறந்தது பாலைவனம்!

அரிதாரம் பூசப்பட்டது சிந்தனைக்கு

பிறந்தது கவிதை! 

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குறட்டை

உறக்கம் ஊருக்கே
உரக்க அடித்த
சுய தம்பட்டம்!

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Engeyum Eppothum - Message attains Omnipresence

Incident is something which the human mind can influence and change as per our thoughts. Accident is something which we can influence but cannot control.

Engeyum Eppothum is a leaf out of the bunch of  road accidents which chicken scraches the destiny of many families everyday. When I read the storyline, I couldn't stop myself from comparing the movie with the prestigious Amores Perros. There has been previous attempts in Tamil Cinema with an accident as the main game-changer in lives of many. Aayutha Ezhuthu, Anbe Sivam and Kalloori are some of them in that list. But, after watching the movie, I felt lots of gratitude for AR Murugadoss and Saravanan for coming up with such a magnificent attempt. as it is so far the best in terms of audience reception.

Love is the time-tested lubricator for all the hard advice we need to tell the audience. Director made use of this fact and succeeded in weaving a tale of social message using love threads. Anjali's character is chiseled so well that the director is at par with the scripting greats such as Mahendiran and Bala. The Man from the Dubai and the Engineering college love pair in the movie are ideal examples for the greatness of the paperwork involved. Dialogues fall in their best places in movie, like a child at its mom's lap. Cinematography and Music acts as the two bandwagons for the narration and is at its best.

In the era where even the Message messiah Director Shankar has run out of social messages to project in celluloid, we must salute the director for coming up with more than one 'message' to inject into the audience. In my view, Director Saravanan is a far more adept at incepting thoughts than Don Cobb! He virtually opens our mind with the narration and incepts the following thoughts using love as the primal catalyst.
1. Traffic Awareness
2. Organ Donation
3. Power of destiny which is always hanging on all our heads like a poisoned knife.

To sum up, Engeyum Eppothum is a movie which will make you to smile for its feel-good content, laugh for its humor, cry for its tragedy and definitely it will make you to think for its message.

An ordinary movie is one which can influence our thoughts but cannot control our actions afterwards. But, an extra-ordinary movie is one which can influence our thoughts, linger for a longtime in our mind and can control our actions. Engeyum Eppothum falls in the latter; instead of preaching, it teaches and it is a sure-shot winner.

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ஓ விவசாயியே!

ஓ விவசாயியே!

உன் தேகத்தின் கருமை - துடைத்திடும் என் தேசத்தின் வறுமை!

உழைப்பின் மீது நீ கொண்ட பாசம் - என் தேசத்தின் சுவாசம்!

உன் கால் சேற்றில் - என் கை சோற்றில்!

கர்ணன் பிறந்த  இவ்வுலகில், உனக்கு

மண்புழுக்கள் மட்டுமே நட்பாகிப் போன அவலம் தான் என்ன?

துரத்துவான் உன்னை  முதலாளிப் பேய்

ஆகிவிடாதே நீ பகடைக் காய்!

 நிலத்தில் நெல்லையும், நெஞ்சில் 'தில்'லையும் பயிர் செய்!  

அப்பயிர் உனக்கு  உயிர் செய்யும்!

மனதில் 'தில்'லை வளர். அது தில்லைக்கு நிகர்!

பட்டுப்போவது மரம் மட்டுமே! மறம் அன்று!

வானம் பொய்த்தினும் பொய்யாது வள்ளுவன் வாக்கு
- "உழுவார் உலகத்தார்க்கு ஆணி"

 உழுதுண்டு வாழ்பவனே!  வாழிய உன் வைராக்கியம்!

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Mid Night Philosophy #1

Difference between Goal and Destiny is that everyone start chasing the first and end up being chased by the latter!

Truth is like God! It is omnipresent. You will feel the different versions of truth at different intervals of time.

God ceases to exist for those who are either too good or too bad! Even God belongs to the corridor of uncertainty!

The real courageous person in this world is the one who has the guts to chase his dreams, whatever happens!

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அவள் நிலவு!

தேய்பிறை கொண்ட அவள் - நிலவு..
பகலினில் வாராத அவள் - நிலவு...
களங்கம் சேர்த்த அவள் - நிலவு....

என்னோடு சேர்ந்த அவள் - நிலவு! 

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Coffin for Corruption?

Lokpal~IAC~Anna Hazare~Baba Ramdev~MMS~Digvijay Singh~Jantarmantar~Ramlila~ Fasting~Tihar~Kalmadi~Kanimozhi~Raja~DMK - As per Google Zeitgeist, this wordlist constitutes the most typed words by an Indian citizen in the past few months. 

All the time, people are busy complaining about rotten politicians, politicians are busy in setting planning(?) commissions, and the fourth estate, media are busy in being the bird watcher, benefiting from disputes between people and politicians. In the mean time, The Sacred House of Parliament has become a warehouse filled with quibblers. 

Only few days ago, we celebrated 64th Independence day. What kind of freedom did we achieved? Freedom to democratic rule they say. But, the protectors of the people, the rulers of our country are celebrating independence behind a bullet-proof window with an army of police protection. Freedom to politcal rule they say. But, politicians take commission from the businesspeople and set commissions to overcome the legal disputes! Freedom to media they say. But, Media adding fuel to the fire, focusing on TRP more than facts. Freedom to vote they say. But, votes are traded in Election time with the vote price plotting a parabola, reaching the max at election time and droping at the midtime. What kind of freedom is this? Freedom to loot? Freedom to evade constitution? Freedom to manipulate? Or freedom to take steps for the public welfare?

At the same time, politicians are not to be the only sector to be blamed. It is we who made them to what they are at present. People bribe the officers and politicians for favours and they in turn get bribed by the politicians for the vote! Who is the most corrupt here? A Government formed by the sold public or the people who were bought by the solid politicians?

Public like to follow trends - whether it is ambition or agitation. If the educational trend is to do Engineering, people will follow that, irrespective of the pupil's talent criterion. If the political trend is to fight against corruption, they will follow that. Not to mention the young men and women who witnessed the freedom struggle only in Social Science books, they like to stand for a cause, probably for the first time in their life. But, irrespective of such petty analyses, after emergency, this is the first time people has united for a single cause.

People's power is like a falling apple obeying gravity. Neither you can stop it nor you can reverse it. As people started realize that the guy represented by him is looting his own pocket, hardtime began to politicians. Now that the whole India is fighting against corruption, an ombudsman is left with two options. Whether he can join the struggle or sit in his house imagining nothing is happening outside. If he chooses to fight, then he must remember that the next time he gets stuck in a lengthy bureaucratic process, he must obey the law and he should not try to evade rules for getting favours in the future. Our country's problem is the population, which is so dense such that there is not a single social/bureacratical process which doesn't involve queuing system. People who are on streets right now should not forget that their struggle doesn't end with the Lokpal bill; but it just starts there. Now, we say that it is corruption which destroyed our lives and charge the Government for not passing a strong Lokpal. But the truth is that by fighting corruption, we are fighting against the corrupt mentality which is ruling our ordinary people and businessmen. All those public-turned-reformist must digest the simple fact - 'Corruption is a two way street. Both the giver and taker are equally reprehensible'.

By getting Independence, we have amputated the infectious British arm, only to get a more proliferating cancer called corruption. We sacrificed so much to defeat one East India company, only to get multiple East India companies in the name of political parties, business tycoons, underworld dhadhas and so on. With this year, just like our politicians, even our Independence reached its retirement age of 64yrs! Now is not too late than never.

It all comes down to this - As usual, the requiem to corruption is not inside some bill, but it is in our minds. It is our duty to uproot the corruption and sow honest seeds to our future generations in order to reap the real independence. Let the knot which came down last Monday be the demonic craziness and the flag which went up be the democracy!

The adage goes - "Where there is a will, there is a way!". But, I say, "Where there is evil, there is unity and definitely there is a way!". Vande Maataram :-)

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Plastic pricing

Plastic covers are priced at all the FMCG and garment shops from past month. Though there are quite a number of customers feel oppressive and sulty against such a move, my personal conviction is that this is a very good move. As the economy of the Metropolitans changed in the past few decades, it brought many corresponding changes in the lifestyle of city dwellers. People started using disposable temporary items more than the long-life products. Their preference shifted largely towards the temporal things. Consumption of ephemeral goods increased rapidly which brought the social environmental welfare under scanner.

Plastic is one of those goods which are accounted for more than 40% of the land pollution. Regular use of plastic can cause stemcell cancer, In addition to that, thousands of cattles die every other day due to the unknown intake of plastic. Even the biodegradable plastics are not 100% recyclable.

Most of the people moved from wired bags to plastic covers mainly because of the fact that the latter is given for free. There are several steps taken by the Government in the past and present in order to curb the plastic usage. In addition, there are a few NGOs who actively participate in campaigns to remind people about the ill-effects caused from the usage of plastics. Since, Money is the primary stopcock for controlling our people's activities, such reduction control steps became a waste of space. Hence I hope that this plastic pricing will bear fruit to environment gradually.

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Buried Potential of The Rajnikanth

A thread of common sense distinguishes the ordinary leaders from the greatest leaders of this world. .  Some leaders are made for the people. Some leaders are made by the people. Nehru and Roosevelt fall in the first category whereas Gandhi and MG Ramachandran fall in the latter. Leaders made by people have always found a unique place in our history. 

A sequence from Maniratnam’s Iruvar made me to write about my all-time favorite actor – Superstar Rajnikanth. In this movie, Karunanidhi questions MGR about his people power as follows - “This is the power which is so rare in this world. This is the power blessed to only few of the people like Lenin, Stalin, and Churchill etc. This is the most powerful boon you will ever get. What are you gonna do in return to them?” 

When I watched this scene, I couldn’t help but compare MGR with our Superstar. But, if MGR were alive today, he would have proudly answered that question with a ‘Yes, I did improve the lifestyle of my fellow Tamizhan who stood by me with his blood and bone”. But, can Thalaivar Rajnikanth answer this question? Fact is that he didn’t make use of this boon given to him by our people. 

Rajni in MGR getup

There is a childhood story that I remember. A young man went to a theatre; he lost his purse there. He came to house, switched on the lights and started searching for his lost purse. When his neighbors questioned him, he replied that the theatre was dim and dark and hence he couldn’t search there properly. So, he is searching in his house where he got enough visibility. It may sound foolish to many of us. But this is exactly what Our Rajnikanth is trying to do. In almost all the epics, it is pointed out clearly that ‘Service to people is the real service to God’. Ironically, Thalaivar lost the Lord among his fellow men and traveling to Kailash in his quest to an unattainable spirituality. 

Some silences are long enough to be termed as ‘buried silences’. There was a time in Tamil Nadu history where every party was waiting for his words. But, Thalaivar kept his mouth shut with one of such buried silences. It is not just his silence which is buried, but it is the potential, public power which went to the drain. Rajnikanth is the one and only person to gain support among a vast sector of people in our contemporary world. When I talk about ‘using’ the power, it means to use it in a good way for the welfare of the people. Don’t forget that he rooted his career in a state where people are looking for an ideal candidate to replace the rotten Dravidian politics for almost two decades. Rajni will probably reply that he is not interested in politics. Okay fine. Point made.  But, still his opening songs in the movies will have lyrics which will suggest his entry to politics. Why? Just for getting his fans ticket money? In fact, you don’t have to enter the politics to do good to the people. Being a Thalaivar fan, I feel ashamed to compare him with people like Actor Surya, Vijay, Vijayakanth and Raghava Lawrence who stretch their limits for the people. Here, Rajni should have been the role model for them. He should have taken the initiative to show the path of public service to the upcoming generations of celebrities. 

Rajni film reception at Shanthi theatre

It is we, the people who are the sole responsibility for whatever mentioned. It is the mistake of our people to idolize a ordinary stage actor into some celestial God form. But, similar to falling in love, some things happen without any supportive reasons. Rajnikanth is one among such exceptions. He has been idolized. It cannot be reversed now. Love and affection of mass public is a definite form of positive energy. It is what a man does with such positive energy define him. Rajnikanth has already wasted his golden opportunities to do well like his predecessors NTR and MGR. 

Can Rajni make a surprise entry to our politics? Or can he start doing public service without indulging in politics? Can he pulverize the fan-heart-crunching allegations made by some half-baked writers like me? Yes he can! If it didn’t happen in 1996, then it may well happen in 2016!  But, I feel that the train is gone by a long way already!

“Don’t wait for the Last Judgment. It happens every day.”  - Albert Camus.

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A Thousand Splendid Suns – Glittering amidst human darkness

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a novel written by the Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini.

The novel is witfully crafted around two characters – Mariam and Laila. The way Hosseini characterized these two Afghan women brought him loads of accolades. While the Afghan war acts as the cornerstone of the novel, Mariam and Laila are the two pillars of the story building block. Story is divided into four parts. First part tells the story of Mariam, second tells the story of Laila, third tells the story of Mariam and Laila in alternate chapters and a final part dedicated to the both.

With the success of ‘The Kite Runner’, Hosseini proves once again that he is one of those rare storytellers who can make a rock to weep. Some might criticize the author for his way of handling human emotions and sentiments. But, it is the reality prevailed in Afghanistan from 1979 to till date.  Afghanistan has attained a metamorphic transformation in the past three decades and the author’s description brings the Afghan beauty, Afghan war, Afghan men and women, their mindsets right in front of our eyes.

The intended audience for this novel is the whole world which watched their neighbor Afghans to die everyday in heaps. Even the Unites States entered the war only after they got their own burns. Hosseini’s writing comes as a blow to every nation which is complacent in its foreign policy. The main point proven by this war epic is that ‘whatever happens to our neighbor may well happen to us one day’. In the end, the author wins in establishing his views to the audience.

Tragedy epics do have some air of emotions which will place them under literature masterpiece category. No wonder that Shakespeare wrote more tragedies than comedies. In short, Khaled Hosseini wins our heart with his master story telling and three-dimensional character projections. Even after you turn the last page, the beauty of this story will remain etched in our hearts forever.

A novel can make us to immerse within the plot which will make us to feel the story. Or a novel can penetrate our heart, which will make us to live the story whenever we think about it. ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ falls in the latter category.

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Express Avenue – A name meant for human life!

Express Avenue is the largest shopping mall in Chennai Metropolitan, built by the subsidiary of The Indian Express newspaper group. Though I went to EA for umpteen numbers of times, the last visit kindled my thoughts about shopping malls and hence this article incepted. Lets us analyze the association between the history of shopping malls and the history of human mindset.

Flow chart for the origination of shopping centers is given below:

Town Centres->Markets->Shopping arcades->Shopping Malls/Centers->Online Shopping

Transformations in the shopping centre structure do have some close associations with the transformations within the human mind. In the ancient Europe, every village or town will have a main building called ‘Town Centre’. This is where the people traded their produced goods.  After the initial days spent in caves and river banks, man found freedom in house-oriented civilization, which is the main reason behind the formation of town centres. But after the advent of modernization in trade, such trade buildings started to diminish. Next step in the transformation cycle led man to categorize or segmentize his environment based on his specific needs.  Hence the inception of markets began and it almost continued till the end of 20^th century. 

With the ingress of Information technology, human mind is blessed with a faster medium of communication which led to the next step in the transformation process. Researches show that the amount of information gained by an average person of 21^st century is much more than the total amount of information gained by an average man from the beginning of this world to 1920 A.D. This shows the rapid age at which we live. Due to such a pace of life, categorization of environment based on specific purposes is dissolved. Now, man wants everything at his touching distance.  Thus, the malls or shopping centers are invented.  A mall is nothing but a coagulated series of shops providing all sorts of A to Z products. The parade of shopping malls has started with the first mall being built in the City of Damascus in Syria.

One of the realities about men is that they will lose their precious things right in front of their eyes, then search for it everywhere, then embed an exact hoax of that precious thing, from which they will try to ‘extract’ satisfaction.  Man lost his real happiness within his own family, then searched for it everywhere else, then embedded it in his surrounding environment in the form of ‘entertainment factors’. Malls are also included in this search of enjoyment. Hence, the theatres and other sorts of entertainment factors are being bumped into shopping malls and destroyed the functional categorization of environment. In this continued transformation cycle, online shopping malls are readily waiting to replace the real shopping malls. There might arrive several good and bad results due to such civilization transformations. And the best way to understand such changes is by wait and watch.

All the definitions are defined by ‘time’.  In the past, the term ‘shopping’ is synonymous with ‘trading’. Man shopped for his needs; he did things with specificity as the core; he ate dishes he liked; he went to places for specific purpose.  In short he lived a unified life in which everything is a part. There, Society is defined by what the man stood for. So men made markets.

In the present, the terms ‘shopping’ and ‘trading’ became anonymous with each other. Shopping became the second nature of man’s social status; he is doing things with no specificity; he orders buffet, not sure what he likes and eats what his par people eats; he goes to places for collective purposes. In short, he is living a diversified life in which he is a part of everything. Here, Man is defined by what the society stands for. So malls are made for men.

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