Kappal Ottiya Thanmizhan

It was during one of those channel surfing sessions when I stumbled upon the movie " Kappal Ottiya Tamizhan " playing in Raj TV. Its almost close to 12 yrs sinceI saw this movie. Wow, what a movie it is!!! I will rate it as the one of the most touching movies in Indian movie history. It's sad that Sivaji hasn't been awarded Dadha Sahib Palkey till date. I guess all of us decided that Sivaji was one actor who didn't shy away from displaying his acting talents at least of the opportunities, but KOT is one of many movies where Sivaji's Histrionic talents have been apt . I don't think anyone in Indian film history could have matched his acting in this movie. It was sheer coincidence that Jaya TV was playing "Thiruvarutselvar" at the same time. SG has potrayed the character of Appar so well. In one of Sivaji's interviews he had mentioned that he mimicked Maha periyaval's mannerisms for the character of Appar. I just wished the directors of yesteryears had harnessed this genius's talent in a more subtle way in his many other movies (Read Mirudhanga Chakravarthi et.al. :) )

Mumbaikars are Resilient!!! Are they really???

Mumbaikars are resilient, Life's back to normal, Train services resume, We can't be cowed down by terrorist acts are some of the headlines in the newspapers and the channels. Most people who travel daily by train are middleclass people who have no luxury of staying at home just because they are afraid of the threats.

Let's just assume that mumbaikars are resilient and will never be cowed down by such attacks. Kudos to the people of mumbai for that, but what happens to the 200 innocent souls who lost their lifes?? The actual truth is that the common man in mumbai has just accepted the fact that they would be the target of such attacks and has learnt to live with it. '93 has come and gone, no concrete action from the govt!!! '97 has come and gone,nothing concrete from the govt!!! Will there be any stern, decisive action after 7/11, hmmm I have my fingers crossed !!!

You know when the life of a Mumbaikar will have a semblance of normalcy, when he knows that his government has some spine to replace its empty words with action against those cowardly people both inside as well as outside India, when he is sure that the networks that plant RDX's in his electric trains with so much sync as to put a pyrotechnics expert to shame have been dismantled and finally when his government realises the value of a single life is much more than appeasing your terrrorist neighbors on both sides!!!

REF don't spoil the game for us!!!

The refreeing hasn't been as controversial as it has been in this worldcup. However boring US football was in these past few weeks, it has to be accepted that it would have been totally different had the ref not blundered in awarding the Penalty in the dying moments of its do or die game. I have always been an aussie basher just because of their arrogant nature on the field (what ever sport it might be) but it was sad to c their world cup campaign end on a dubious penalty kick that was awarded to the Italians. For once I felt sorry when the aussies lost!!!!

FIFA shd really think of using video replay atleast for the penalty shots!!! Immediately some million people stand up say that the sanctity of the game will be lost!! U know what all those shd go and tell that to the US and Auusie Teams, I can forsee lot of Black eyes :)

The most noticable change amidst the common chennaite is the use of cell phones. The most common thing right from the local fruit vendors to the Kovil going Madisar mami's is the cell. As much as this instrument has enabled people to keep in touch with their near and dear ones, it will be a long time before people learn the basic etiquettes of using the same. Some of the instances of people using their mobile phones range from being funny to dangerous. There was this instance in which a patient in a dentist clinic sat up to answer his phone , when he was undergoing a root canal, needless to say the doctor had just stepped out to answer his mobile
phone. Traffic police always advice people driving cars not to use their mobiles and I was just horrfied to see so many people driving two wheelers using their cell phones (they were actually browsing something on their phone leave alone talking). Use of cell phones in temples have become such a big nuisance that lot of temples have gone to extent of putting boards that request poeple not to use them inside the premises, but still you can see people using their phones inside temples disturbing rest of the devotees. Just the other day the guy next to me in the movie theater was dumb enough to let his phone ring four times after which I had to gently advice the guy to turn his Stupid instrument off. Wish the general cell phone user who sports his latest cell pone at the smallest pretext will know "how to use it".

"Nee enna periyaa Mechanical-aa?"

Neram-arnd: 6:00pm
Idam- CEAT buildin', Stillwater,OK.
Context: trying to stay awake in Non-traditional M/c class on a friday evening.
Thinking: night ootu mela enna seivom, tennis courtla edam kadaikuma cricket ada, obhi adichu eppadiyavadhu thesis mudika mudiyumaa? etc. etc

Rebublish pannanumanu yosichu, thoopalukku anjom-gara mudivuku vandhu sari sari idhuku mela kadi poda virumbala!

Tyrai uruti vittal "Rolling"
Pagaivanukko kaiyai neetinal uravu "Forging"
Inaiyadha Kaigal inaindhal "Welding"
Caril Indaicator pottal adhu"Turning"
Pal Sothai enral adhu"Drilling"
Ravaa dosaiku mavu vendumanal "Grinding"
Kannodu Kann vaipadhu "Facing"
Arici kadaiku varuvadharku mun" Milling"

Kannadiyai abrasival theithal "Polishing"
adhu nandraga nadandhal thesis "Finishing"

Past Six Months…

Change of place is always a tricky thing. It can be really interesting or downright boring, guess it all depends on how one deals with it. The first three months of my previous move from Oklahoma City to Boulder, Colorado was the most boring period in my life. But I guess I learnt a lot during those boring loner movies, dining etc., Initiative, you can either curse your boring life or stand up and say I won’t be dragged into this boring routine.
So it was dejavu all over again when I had to leave Boulder, CO where I had umpteen number of friends, numerous activities to get involved in, rain or snow. Off all the things I would miss, I knew my cricketing experience in CCL (Colorado Cricket League) would be difficult to replace. The sixteen hour drive from Denver to Lexington, KY didn’t help either in soothing my anxiety, rather it made me lament the fact that I was going to a god forsaken place, at least that’s what I thought about Lex life.

The first thing that happened to me, that too in a just a couple of hours helped in calming my nerves, was that I found my room mates in the most unlikeliest of place, TACO BELL J. After a breezy first week with relative boring evenings, my first encounter with fellow TAMS came that Saturday (Coutesy: LTCA). Those three hours of Skits, games and orchestra gave me hope that my life will not be cowed down by boring evenings and weekends (the fact that I got intro to Dins and Vasu also supported my belief). The first thing Dinster asked me was whether I played cricket, that was like some one injecting a bottle of Vitamins into my body, I could see lot of light at the end of tunnel. After spending almost a month and half counting days to the beginning of the cricket season the first phone call from Dinster about cricket practice lifted me to cloud nine, on which I stayed till the end of the season when we lost our Quarter finals to Cincinnati. Wow, what a rollicking season it was, starting the tournament with a bunch of total strangers to the time when we became a closely-knit unit, winning nail-biting matches.

There was a small lull in my life till LTCA announced that they are going to organize their next program, VAIBHAVAM, wow what an unexpected joy it was to a part of that program. After lot of introspection whether to participate or not I decided to brave the thoopals of otherwise good friends. I was really nervous as it was quite sometime since I got onto the stage for anything but anyways I decide to go ahead. After umpteen hours of practicing (for the Dance Medley) and not so much time for orchestra the final performance turned out to be a decent Hit among fellow Tams. I not only had fun for a month during all those tiring sessions but also gained lot of good friends in the process. The VAIBHAVAM enthu caught up so much with our dance gang that some of us started practicing steps for our next program (ISA diwali night) even before Vaibhavam concluded. But, our next gamble (if u can call that) was more taxing in terms of practice sessions as “Dance Master” a.k.a Sudhakar put us through our drills. Then again we forgot all our long tiring practice sessions after seeing the way Junta received our dance. Now as lot of my Lexintonite friends know our dance “kurup” might perform in the Lexington Cultural center as well as part of their Diwali celebrations.

Life is going just fine as of now with all those vetty kadha adichufying and hanging out with friends, but I also know that all this fun might end this year, next year or the year after that and I might need to start all over again. But one thing is sure, I have found lot of good friends for life in the past six months in Lexington, KY who know how to have fun in life, just like me ;) (If I can Say so).