King of Test Matches - Dravid

The king of test matches came roaring back and how!! Oh, I’m thrilled, beyond words. Woke up in the morning to see poetry in action. Flicks, Cuts, Drives, Quick foot movement, immaculate defense were all in full view. Ahh...that passionate punch of the wrists after scoring the 100, a sight to be framed for years, reminded me of the winning runs in the historic Adelaide test match. As ever, the unassuming giant soldiers on when India needed him most (BTW, India was tottering at 31/4).

Kandhasamy - A Saturday Evening Wasted

I wanted to watch Kaminey over the weekend. But my colleague got me a booked in Cineworld, Broad Street, Birmingham for the Saturday 4:30 PM show of Kandhasamy. With the wine i had on Friday night still lingering and working on official tasks in fits and starts, i ended up getting ready only at 4 PM. Broad Street being 11 miles from Solihull i ended up taking taxi. I had to pay the thrice the amount of the movie's ticket for the taxi!! Cursing myself i settled in the multiplex seat with a 3Pound regular coke.

The first thing that strikes one of such big budget Tamil movies ( Anniyan, Sivaji, Dasavatharam and now Kandhasamy) is how much lavishly they are made. The richness from the money spent comes out in no uncertain terms in the costumes, sets, locales, cars, songs and frames. Especially cinematography has improved leaps and bounds. I mean the cinematography of some of these Tamil movies is far better than the best Bollywood can offer.

But what's infuriating is the strict adherence to the archaic masala movie formula. It is the same commercial formula which has been beaten to death over the last two decades. It is as though a song in a foreign locale or a Vadivelu comedy track scene needs to be compulsorily inserted after being on the main storyline for five to ten minutes. The screenplay of this movie is in shambles. Contrast this one to the racy pace at which Shankar delivers Anniyan and Sivaji, both anti-corruption themed movies. This movie is a collage of disjointed sequences. I'm also getting tired of the run of the mill anti-corruption/'rob the rich feed the poor' movies in Tamil.

It is nauseating to watch the hypocrisy of trying to balance the prime motivation of feeding the aspirations of the burgeoning middle-class and at the same time trying to play to its sense of guilt of doing nothing to the abundant squalor/poverty it finds itself surrounded with. After some spectacularly extravagant shots in Mexico, the hero starts lecturing by showing us a series of photographs depicting poverty in India. Sigh...

Vikram, a two-time national award winner (For Sethu and Pithamagan), is getting into an image trap post the success of Anniyan. By comparison Surya is far more versatile.

Shreya is Kollywod's answer to Shakira. With her new hair-do she looks chic.

Perhaps the only reason one should watch this movie is for the remix song 'Bambara Kannalae':-) If you can't sway to the beat of this song then forget it.....I gather this song is quite big these days in the South Indian party circles, how much ever small it may be. Sample the lyrics:-)

Yen Peru Meenakumari
Yen ooru Kanyakumaari
Polaama Kudhira savaaari
Sailaama samban kacheri

Naan pattu pattu pattu pattu sundhari
nee thottu thottu thottu thottu thottu nee pullari

Kaaikari thottahthila naan kathiri
Aangila madhathila naan january
Pambara Kannaaley Kaadhal ....
Ohdura nadhiyinile naan kaaviri
Asaiva saapaatula naan aan kari
Pambara Pambara pambara pambara .....

KamalHaasan's Poem

I was browsing Era.Murugan's website. Era.Murugan is one of the new age Tamil writers, who btw writes well. It comes out that he works for HCL BPO as principal consultant. Sujatha is his mentor. He has done dialogues for Kamal's upcoming flick 'Unnai Pol Oruvan'. His poems regularly appear in Ananda Vikatan. I distinctly remember reading a poem titled 'AadhalAl AlarugirAn' by Era.Murugan in AV few years back. In his website he has published one of Kamal's poem titled 'Nanban'. I know Kamal writes poems. Regarding Kamal's poetic skills, camouflage/under currents/veiled messages/giving room for different interpretations are all hallmarks of a well written poem and Kamal has them in plenty. Also, Themal, Jaadhikuri, padikAram, MIsai nuni...these are distinctly Kamal words.

It's an intelligent poem. He sees himself as his Nanban. Once you read the poem from this context you will be pleasantly surprised. I concede that the usage of the term 'Jaadhikuri' is unnecessary. However, you will have to give it to him when it comes to how versatile he is and how much justification he does to each and every thing he gets into

http://www.eramurukan.in/tamil/magazines.php

Weekend notes

Upgraded to IE 8 this weekend. Comes with lots of nifty features. Liking it....

Suddenly realised that i haven't likened any new hindi/tamil songs after "Rehna Tu" from Delhi 6. So browsed the latest Top 10s from Bollywood/Kollywood. Nothing impressive except for "Chor Bazaari" from "Love Aaj Kal". Pritam's continuously surprising - "Life in Metro", "Jab We Met" and now "Love Aaj Kal". There are people who accuse of him being a copycat. But he is turning out to be likeable copycat. This song is peppy and enthusiastically sung. Neeraj Shridhar from Bombay Vikings group and Sunidhi Chauhan have sung this song really well.

Talking of copycat, there is an entire thread in youtube on the songs AR Rahman has copied....Hmmm...

Talking of AR Rahman, watched in youtube the felicitation function in which the entire South Indian music fraternity was present and lots of good words to tell about ARR for winning two Oscar awards.

The Pussycat Dolls version of Jai ho is interesting....

Purchased "Breathe Right" nasal congestion strips y'day and tried out y'day night itself. And i must say it worked pretty well.

A haircut and coloring is long overdue. Hopefully will get it done today.

Weekend chores are pretty demanding...cleaning vessels which had piled up in the sink, grocery purchase, clothes purchase, vacuum cleaning the house, throwing the bags in the bin, ironing clothes, washing clothes, etc, etc....

Thiruvalluvar's Religion

Let me start this posting with the rationalistic thundering of Thiruvalluvar:

113: "EpporuL yAr yAr vAi kEtpinum apporuL meipOrul kAnbadu arivu".
meaning "Whatever you hear from whichever person, think about the truth of it and then accept it if it is the truth."

I remember reading the late Kanchi Seer quoting extensively from Thirukkural in Deivathin Kural essentially to prove two or three points - a) The vedhic religion is not alien to the Dravidian culture b) The brahmins have alway been part of the Dravidian culture and c) there never was an Aryan invasion of India.

It's interesting that he quotes "marappinum othuk kolalaagum paarppaan pirappu ozhukkam kunrak kedum". Paarppan by the way is Brahmin. The meaning of the kural is
"The Brahmin who has forgotten his scriptures could read them up again;But if he neglects right conduct he will lose his birth-right."

Let us look at some of the other kurals where references to Andhanar or paarppan or Aruthozhilalar or to Vedhic religion are made in Thirukural.BTW, different schools interpret the meaning of the words Andhanar, Paarppan and Aruthozhilalar in different ways.

25: "aIndhavithaan aatral agalvisumbu LaarkOmaan inthiranE saalum kari "
meaning "Indra, the king of inhabitants of the spacious heaven, is himself, a sufficient proof of strength of him who has subdued his five senses"
Indra by the way is a vedic god.

30: "ANDHANAR enbor aravor,marraveyuirkkum sendhanmai poondolukalan"
meaning ""The virtuous are called as bhramins,since they help all living beings""

413: "Seviyunavir Kelvi YudaiyAr Aaviyunavin AandrArO doppar nilathu"
meaning "Those who in this world enjoy the instruction which is the food of the ear, are equal to the Gods, who enjoy the food of the sacrifices".
Sacrifices by the way are central to vedhic religion.

543: "ANDANAR noorkum arathirkum athiyayi nindrathu mannan kol"
meaning "The Brahmins's scripture and virtue spring from the sceptre of a stately king"

560: "aapayan kundrum,ARUTHOLILOR nool marappar, kavalan kaavaan enin..."
meaning "If a king doesnt guard properly cows will stop secreting milk and bhramins will forget vedas".

610: "Madiyilaa Mannavan Eithum adiyalanthAn thA AyadhellAm orungu"
meaning "The king who never gives way to idleness will obtain entire possession of the whole earth passed over by that God who measured the worlds by His foot"
a reference to thirivikraman – incarnation of lord narayana.

617: "madiyuLaaL maamugadi enba madiyilaan thaaLuLaaL thaamaraiyi naaL"
meaning "They say that the black Mudevi (the goddess of adversity) dwells with laziness, and the latchmi (the goddess of prosperity) dwells with the labour of the industrious". Vishu's wife latchmi dwells in the lotus.

1103: "Thaamveezhvaar Menrol Thuyilin inidhukOl thamarai kannAn ulagu"
meaning "Can the lotus-eyed Vishnu's heaven be indeed as sweet to those who delight to sleep in the delicate arms of their beloved ?"

These might indicate that he tacitly acknowledges the then prevalent caste system where what one does was determined by birth and that he was acknowledges the gods and practices of the vedhic religion. However, the following couplets bring out his true stance on what we truly inherit by birth:

133: Ozhukkam udaimai kudimai izhukkum izhindha pirappAi vidum
meaning "Propriety of conduct is true greatness of birth, and impropriety will sink into a mean birth"

351: Porulalla Vatraip Porulendru unarum maruLANAM MANAp pirappu
meaning "Inglorius births are produced by the confusion of mind which considers those things to be real which are not real"

409: MerpirandhA Raayiynum kallAthAr Kizhppriandhum katrAr anaithilar pAdu
meaning "The unlearned, though born in a high caste, are not equal in dignity to the learned; though they may have been born in a low caste"

The killer ones being:

972: "Pirappookum yella vuyitkkum Sirappokkum Seythozhil vetrumai yaan"
meaning "All human beings are one in circumstances of birth. Diversities of works give each his special worth"

973: "Melirundhum Melallaar Melallar Kizhirundhum Kizhlallaar kizhal lavar"
meaning "The men of lofty line, whose souls are mean, are never great. The men of lowly birth, when high of soul, are not of low estate."

Plenty of articles are written to figure out which religion Thiruvalluvar belonged to. It is worth noting that the ASI has recently declared that Thiruvalluvar to be staunch follower of Jainism of Dravidian time.

My reading tells me that it's difficult to tell which religion Thiruvalluvar practiced. Amidst the lofty ideals, he seems to reflect ideas of the religions
that prevailed during his time. Different couplets can be interpreted in different ways. So, to take refuge in Thirvuvalluvar to make a point won't travel a long distance.

MS Bug

Every now and then MS bug bites me. And I’m amidst once such spell.

I at times try to figure out what’s my most favorite rendition of hers. And it just keeps changing, never the same.

Is it “Rama Rama Guna Seema” or is it “EnaaTi nOmu phalamO” or is it “Deva Devam Bhaje” or is it “dEvi brOva” or is it “Manjudai Putti” or is “Yaaro ivar Yaaro” or is it “palintcu kAmAkshi” or is it “Sri Rangapura vihara” or is it “sArasAksha paripAlaya” or “kanakashailavihariNi” or is it “AkilAndeshwari RakshamAm” or is it “Nagumomu ganaleni Naa jaali thelisi” or is it “Vadavarayai Mathaaki” or is it “pakala nilabaDi” or is “O rangashayee” or is it the much sought after “kurai ondrum illai”?

At different points in time different songs of hers have taken over me. Some of these songs end up sticking in my head for days together. During such periods in trance, I see myself singing inside, at times singing aloud in a weak voice and at times showing lotta emotion as most of the songs are a plead to the lord to liberate oneself from this drudgery of life.

Staying alone and fighting all kinds of battle in an extremely intense project for almost an year now has left me weary. And during these weak moments, listening to my favorite MS renditions in youtube and that too some of them with video is a great source of relief.

This morning watching in youtube to her monumental niraval in the third part of the song “pakala nilabaDi” left me with Goosebumps (ref: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58Sjs1LzIF0).

Just watch her rip Kharakhara Priya between 2:40 and 7:00, esp. reaching the crescendo between 6:00 and 6:48. The niraval is on the line “Tanuvuche vandana monarinchu chunnara” in which Tygaraja questions Lord Lakshmana - Do ("monarinchu-chunnaaraa") you prostrate ("vandana") with your body ("tanuvuche") before Him?
What a song!! What a singer !! What a composition!! Divine!!

Camp Dawkins & End of Fair Society

Two articles in this week Sunday Times caught my attention:
The first reports on Richard Dawkins's attempt to set up an atheist camp in UK for young children.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6591231.ece

This one has a decent joke as well which brought out a smirk:
How many atheists does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to change the bulb and the other to film the work being done so the fundamentalists won’t claim that God did it.

The second article is a brilliant one. It tries to see how a cross section of the British society view the gap between the haves and have nots in these times of recession. Some telling lines,

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6591250.ece

Rowntree’s research, among more than 1,000 adults of all income groups, shows that more than two thirds of them admire the rich, and assume that their high salaries are a proper reward for ability, effort and performance. On the other hand, they are largely contemptuous of the poor, especially those who live on benefits. Those people are routinely described as scroungers.

And though most people described themselves as very concerned about inequality, it wasn’t the gap between rich and poor they cared about. It was the gap between the top and themselves that they wanted to see narrowed.

We’re told we live in a meritocracy, so despite the evidence around us, we pretend it’s so. Anything else would be too painful to bear. We can tolerate the comfortable or luxurious lives that some people live only by telling ourselves that they are deserved. These people must work much harder than we are prepared to, or have skills we cannot dream of.

In the research sessions, participants projected all kinds of virtues – dedication, private study, willingness to tolerate stress – onto those with high salaries. Equally, we might find the grim poverty or simple limitations of others’ lives indefensible unless we told ourselves that these people had a choice, and it’s wilfulness or laziness that keeps them as they are. The idea that our life chances are radically unfair is more than we can admit.

Our need to believe in the worth of those above us might give us a different explanation for the anger over bankers’ salaries and MPs’ expenses. It isn’t the fact of their high incomes that enraged us. It was that their selfishness and incompetence destroyed our illusions about their worth. Our faith required us to believe that they deserved what they got. Having their faults exposed has made us uncomfortable.

This mass delusion doesn’t mean that attempts to make Britain more equal are doomed, but it does show that those who think it desirable have to take a different approach. Expecting most people to care about inequality as an abstract concept is pointless: they don’t. They think that quite a lot of it is fair. But the Rowntree research does show a way forward.

The research group were asked which of three societies they would rather live in – a traditional free-market one, with few protections; an egalitarian one that cut the gap between rich and poor; or one that gave priority to improving everyone’s quality of life.

Almost nobody, not even the rightwingers, opted for a society that made economic growth and standards of living a priority, especially if these were accompanied by greater insecurity. Yet this is pretty much what Labour has offered in the past dozen years – increased wealth but much more precarious lives. If that bargain ever was appealing, it isn’t any more.

Only a small number opted for the egalitarian choice. The overwhelming majority chose the third.

Under the banner of quality of life, people were happy to work and consume less, and pay more tax, if it meant they had less pressure in their lives and better public services. They agreed that they wanted to “reduce social dysfunction and move away from market values”, live in a less divided society, experience less crime, and invest in preventive help for children and young people in need. In other words, the kind of society most people thought would make them happier also happened to be a rather more equal one. But that was a byproduct, not its central appeal.
The political party that can recognise this mood and respond to it will be facing an open goal. People can see the point of a fairer society if it’s principally something that will improve their lives too. Tragically, new Labour never had the imagination to seize this ground; it was too busy counting targets and letting markets rip. Is it even remotely possible that the Tories can make enlightened self-interest a powerful cause?