Dec 18, 2007

People 9 : Rain and the Junction

Relentless downpour. A major junction. Clogging slurry of (auto) motives.
Rain lashes from the sides of the Auto rickshaw.
Everyone wants to reach there as soon as possible. Wherever their ‘there’ might be.

Chilly winds bite the bone. Radios tune in to the myriad frequencies. Some invisible DJ conjures a concoction of FM waves.
Rap interludes from the auto-drivers, fluent in their curses.


“Poi Tholailangalenda, evlo neram than manushan ingaye ninnu saavarthu” (Why cant you fellows get going, how long can a man die waiting here…)

An assorted spread of choice Chennai swear words follows.*

“Intha car kaara naainga nalla ulla okanthutu nagara matenranunga. Oru aathra avasaram na ingaye Samadhi aaga vendiyathuthan…” ( These dogs , sitting inside the car , high and dry, don’t move … Even if a man is in an emergency, he might as well dig his grave here..)**

“Yov, Poi tholayenya..” , (Hey, get going), directed at the fish-cart (tricycle) in front.

Dripping wet, he was religiously wrenching his torn lungi dry. A snugly fitting polythene carry bag formed his head gear. The boy ‘manning’ the fish-cart replied, “Iru pa, konja nerathula clear agidum” (Wait, It will get cleared in a while).


And the RJ babbled, “Mazhai na excite agathavangale iruka mudiyathunga…..” ( There can’t be anyone who is not excited by the rain… )






*: With all due respects to the passenger ‘madam’, of course.
**: Was born again, each time a ‘car-kaara’ dog tried to overtake the auto.

Dec 13, 2007

Just Wondering - 7

It is strange that blows that could have once broken backbones, hardly make an eyelid bat.

Is detachment the panacea to all pain ?

Still,what would man be, but for the ability to wish and hope?

Nov 17, 2007

Lost In Translation

“Santhusht a Irukatheenga”, a smiley faced SRK ad-vises us Kuppans and Subbans of Tamil Land. This is the dubbed version of the DishTV ad on one of the Tamil channels. DishTV may not have plans to penetrate the rural veins of TN, but such an ad would plant a premature R.I.P on any possible prospects.

Ads are money. And big money at that. They provide the return on investment only if they reach the targeted audience. TN is not like other Indian states. You cannot afford to expect people to know what Santhusht is, especially when repeated in Junoon-tamil sentences. By a face alien to the masses (barring the peeps SRK made into few elitist tamil movies).

The equivalent Tamil word might destroy the lip-sync. It may even kill the cute little skewed rhyme the sathusht-dish-wish make. But retaining it would make the very first step in communication wobbly.

One can reason, that inserting incomprehensible info can create curiosity, but what the heck, even the well orchestrated “nalarai pal” and “pulli-raja” campaigns became relics way too soon in their life cycles.

When there are toddlers who can recite 1330 kurals verbatim, why do kids with tongues pasted to the roof of their mouths dub for ads? Creativity can take a backseat, but sensibilities can’t afford to. Ads as such, are an intrusion, and are more often than not used as breaks from the couch to check on the launderette or the cooking. Given the limited attention capture time, sloppiness can be a costly mistake.

As a contrast, the Tanishq ad for Diwali made one Santhusht. It had a known persona of star value, Asin, totting the jewellery for “Dhanteras”, also a concept new to tamils (the majority). It clearly conveyed the message, with Asin urging us, with flawless diction, to book in advance for the festive “Dhanteras”. I, for one, looked up for “Dhanteras” and was able to place the context.

As a check, I asked my maid, what she understood by Dhanteras. “Namma Atchaya thiruthiyai pola Deepvali ku etho podranma” (translated as “They are launching something like our Akshaya Thrithyai for this Deepavali”).

Its time ad-men paid attention to the basics.

Nov 1, 2007

Just Wondering - 6

Can someone crave for both company and solitude at the same time?

Oct 24, 2007

Vethal’s Corner - 1

A Success Story

Your chances of success are directly proportional to the degree of pleasure you derive from what you do." - Michael Korda

Raj and Suraj were best friends.

Both of them were good students. But Raj excelled in extra curricular activities as well, especially at oratory where he was a natural pro. When it came to academics, Raj studied for pleasure, and was good at what he did, while Suraj worked with a motive, that is, to consistently top the class.

Both of them were adored by their classmates, and teachers, with Suraj claiming a slightly higher share of the teachers’ adulation.
Suraj, however admired Raj for his flair in oratory and secretly yearned to be like him. He accompanied Raj to all his competitions, and was the best under-study that one could hope to be.

So deep was his desire for emulating Raj, that Suraj once told Raj “Your speech today was mind-blowing! Not a single day goes by, without me wishing to be you!”

Raj was taken aback by this statement. “How can one wish to be someone else??? You are your own absolute. Don’t ever compare yourself to others”.

But, Suraj’s longing was insatiable. He continued to follow Raj’s moves like a puppy. This sometimes irked Raj, for he was used to having his space. Suraj obviously was blind to his friend’s discomfort. He stuck to Raj during the day like a leech, and burned the midnight oil, trying to repeat the day’s speech in front of the mirror.

It was the Annual inter-school oratorical competition. The school, as usual, had nominated Raj to represent them. Suraj however had enrolled as an independent contestant.

After a fiercely fought contest, the judges declared “It was a close call. Both had very good ideas and counter points. But the subtleties of oratory were flawlessly displayed by Suraj, whom we declare the winner”.

Raj was crest-fallen. He refused to speak to Suraj thereafter. Suraj continued to win laurels. But at the corner of his mind, could never figure out why Raj broke their friendship.
He once overheard Raj saying to someone, “He is a phony. Even Charlie Chaplin didn’t win a look-alike contest of himself. Suraj simply aped me. He lacks the gift. One needs the inner spark to go on forever. The hype and hoopla is bound to die down soon.. All that glitters isn’t gold”.
Although these words hurt Suraj, he couldn’t deny or accept their import completely.

Now, Vikrams of the world, was Suraj a pilferer? Was his claim to genius fraudulent? Isn’t Genius 1 % inspiration and 99% perspiration? What about being blessed with talent, then?

Or as Raj said, would Suraj’s trail of glory peter out? His desire to be like Raj drove Suraj towards his claim to fame, what if that motive force disappears?

Suraj did not have the love or passion for oratory that Raj had, but that didn’t stop him from being a great orator, did it? Is passion for work the key to success, or is it passion for anything that is the key to success?

Suraj could have won the medals and prizes in something that he really loved, was he being superficial in choosing oratory?
By observing Raj and copying him, wasn’t Suraj inventing a “formula” for success?” Like following the trends of exam questions of the past 15 years and scoring 90% without knowing the ABC’s of the subject?

Hasn’t Suraj’s way to victory discouraged Raj who genuinely possessed the talent and love for oratory?


P.S:

This comes on the wake of Saraswathy Pooja. Saw a documentary on a Malayalam channel (guess it was DD) on the value of real ‘education’. Although, I understood the dialogues only in bits and pieces, the concluding line reached deep. It went like this: “Children, you don’t study for your father, you don’t study for your mother, you don’t study for teacher, nor do you study for your country. Then whom do you study for? Yourself.” (A pathetic literal translation. Please excuse.)

Oct 15, 2007

Just Wondering - 5

Is there a state of mind, where nothing can interest a person ? An Eternal Ennui of the Extreme kind ....All shades merging into one blurry blend of grey.....All tastes mixing into insipid blandness....Every second as dull and dreary as its predecessor...

Can someone die of boredom?

Sep 30, 2007

Chak De, So they say !

I am really happy about India winning 'a world cup'. Even if it has been in a form of the game new to most of the contenders. And even if Lady Luck did more than smile upon the Boys in Blue (BIB).

But not long ago, an underdog of a sport, unfortunately one that was once India's pride in the commonwealth, did a heroic resurgence after decades. A bunch of non-descript Indians won the Asian hockey Cup, with less or mediocre media mileage than they deserved.

And unabashedly, the media pulled in a Bollywood flick, Chak De India to attribute this feat to.
Possibly scripted in the wake of the BIB's sad show at the Caribbean World Cup ODI's, this movie chose a Hockey Vs Cricket theme, perhaps for want of a Cinderella of Indian Sports. It could have been Tennis, Athletics, Kabaddi, or even seven stones and hopscotch, for all that you care. Although, it capitalized on the popular anti-BIB sentiment, I felt it was more of an Indianized version of Hollywood's Baseball- Movies. Of course, with a lot of babes for extra coverage.

Not to mention King Khan as the hard hitting coach.

Basking in the rare media attention thrown upon them, BIB's poor cousins, gratefully, nevertheless unnecessarily dedicated their hard earned victory to the actor and the movie.
Less was said of the win, in itself, and lesser of the people behind it.

Perhaps enthused by his name becoming resonant with one sport, King Khan made his presence felt at the Twenty20 Cup, where the BIBs salvaged a thrilling win. With our Baadshah of Bollywood, Chak De-ing them. Step aside, Mandira Bedi, you small screen belle!

Not to be outdone by tinseldom, our respected political brethren from all friendly and not so friendly states, jump into the fray announcing hefty sums of tax-payer's money as rewards to decorate the BIBs.

Our poor cousins, realise what a ride they had been taken for, blink back their tears at the scraps of media attention thrown to them, and begin a Satyagraha-of-sorts, that,sorry to say, looks more pathetic than anything else.

Despite not being a sporting aficionado, one can't remain blind to this incongruity. But, that’s what we, as a nation, have chosen to be. Becoming selectively amnesic, lapping up to the upcoming ODIs. Degradation of the sporting fan into the dastardly voyeurs who watched the Gladiators at the Colosseum.

Yet another classic instance of the Great Indian Apathy at play. (Pun –intended.)


An update :

Sep 19, 2007

Just Wondering -4

A short cut to Ramar Sethu

Karunanidhi : "Who is this Rama? From which engineering college did he gradute? Is there any proof for this?"

Advani :''Today a civil war is going on and the government of Tamil Nadu is adding to it"

My father : "Intha Rendu kezhathaiyum pidichu jail la pota Ramarum nimmadhiya irupar, sethu vum nimmadhiya irukum." * (chuckles)


* Translation :
'If both these old croonies are put in jail, Rama would be happy, and so will the bridge. '

Sep 12, 2007

Just Wondering - 3


Why does a super-powered Genie always have a human master to command it? Is it for the same reason that a few lesser mortals hold the leash over the rest?




Inspiration : A chance flicking of channels that lead to a glimpse of Disney's Alladin.

Sep 3, 2007

People 8 :Magnanimity

Rush hour traffic. Zillion diversions. Buses that don’t stop for everyone. Share Autos to the rescue. He waits for one. Shifts his weight to his good leg. A blue ID tag dangles, from his white collar.

They whiz past him. The traffic police shoo them away. He holds his knee for support.
One crowded Auto stops for an extra ten rupees. He hops on beside the driver. Three of them perched on a seat for one.

He is not a local. Smiles make up for the lapses in language. He wants to get down mid-way. Another busy junction. The traffic constable brandishes his lathi. The auto driver mumbles his complaint.

He gets down and extends a ten-rupee note. A fare in excess of the distance he has traveled, but which the auto driver considers fair for the trouble caused. A Khaki coat’s righteous claim over the white collar.

He thanks the auto driver and limps across the busy road.

Yet another busy junction. The auto driver jumps down and runs behind his client. The auto stands idle, blocking the milling vehicles. The driver helps him cross and presses a 5-rupee coin in his hand.

Smiles cover up the lapses in language.

Aug 25, 2007

Just Wondering - 3

Why can't the mysteries of Death also include the means to perpetrate it?

Aug 17, 2007

Pot-Pourri

Charity Begins at home.

I am writing this on the last few days of my stay in a foreign land, on a business visit.
A charity sale was going on in our office. It was a cookie-candy-pizza sale as a fund raiser for the Alzheimer’s disease research.

Colleague: what is going on? Why are there so many cookies and Pizzas?
Me: It’s for charity.
Colleague: Charity? Is it free?
Me: No! It’s a fund raiser. Charity for the needy
Colleague: Oh.. Then India needs lots of charity.. Ask these people to give us the money..
Me: Why? To end up in the politician’s pocket?
Colleague: so what? We will fill up the politician’s pocket so much that some of it will at least overflow to the public.
Me: Our politicians will enlarge their pockets, if something like that happens.
Colleague: Then we would fill them up even more, so that something surely overflows.
Me: Or…. Better still… We could puncture the politician’s pocket…
Colleague: suddenly becomes mature, looks away and shrugs
Me: Come-on, what was wrong with THAT !!!????

***********************************************************************

Those wonder years in the wonder land..


There is this friendly cheerful lady in office. A single mom living with her parents, and her 4 year old daughter. Over lunch, I asked her about her daughter. Among other interesting anecdotes, she told me that her daughter freaks out her grandma with an imaginary friend of hers. The little girl used to say with a straight face, “Nana, I am not talking to myself. Can’t you see this girl sitting on the toilet seat? She is waiting for her momma and papa to come and pick her up...”

Kids imagine all sorts of things. I had imagined so many things. I always wanted a houseful of siblings. I had imagined an elder sister and a younger brother. So strong was my hallucination, that I went around telling children at school what my sister did to my hair and how my kid bro broke my toys. It wasn’t until a couple of standards later, that one of the girls from school came to my house and asked my parents for my akka and thambi. My mom had to bail me out, by saying they were cousins.

Then there was this game that I used to play with myself. I used to imagine a parallel universe where things happened opposite to the world as I knew it. When I cried, I imagined that my counterpart in the parallel world laughed. When I stood, she sat. When I slept, she was awake. When I said yes, she said no. There was no rhyme or reason to this little game. But I kept playing it. And it did amuse me a lot. I don’t remember when I stopped playing this game, and it is surprising that I still can recollect it.

Childhood is when reality is imagination and imagination becomes reality. Things didn’t have to exist to be true. As long as they kept you happy and amused. As long as you believed in them.

Then all of a sudden you grow up. Imagination becomes difficult. Or Art.
Beliefs become naiveté. Or do they? Some may linger on. I, for one, could use a parallel universe every now and then.

Aug 12, 2007

Just Wondering -2


Is Patience a form of self deception? A narcotic that lulls your consciousness to reality? Does a strength of spirit warrant a dishonesty with oneself?
Why is plain old common sense that tells you to give up and move on , viewed as slackness of the soul?
Isn't it mulish waiting that is an indication of lassitude and reluctance?

Jul 31, 2007

Just Wondering - 1

Does anyone think that Kareena Kapoor and Paris Hilton look alike?
Has anyone noticed that Urmila resembles Jeniffer Aniston?

Or Is it just me?

Jul 13, 2007

People 7

Hay in the Subway.

Moist Highway. Drying Sun. Milling morning vehicles. Sub-terrain Pedestrian pathway. Choc-a-bloc with arms laden with lunch boxes and scurrying legs. Away from the prying rays of the sun. Still Sequestered with little pools of inky black water.

An abandoned heap of hay. Soggy and damp. Condemned to decay.

A body slumped against it. Wrapped in rags, that could have once been pink or orange, or brown or may be even white. A lifeless head hanging down. A messy tuft of silver and grey.

Was he dead? Was she dead? Will they dispose it? Is he/she dying? Is he sleeping? Drunk? Did she shelter here from the nightly lashes of rain? Hungry? Will the sun breathe life into yet another life-form?

Joy Ride

A crowded metro bus. A family of gypsies. A mother, a father and a bunch of kids, of all ages. The adults carrying an infant each, balancing all their bags and wares.

A bus ride. Window seat. Sitting on par with others. What excitement ! Chitter chatter. Peals of laughter. The eldest is the noisiest. The others are too young to realize this unbridled joy. The mother watches them with sedate eyes. Her infant tugging her pleated skirt, that clashed with the rags wrapped around her.

The father holds on to his little one, like a beast of burden. The merry of his oldest stirs in him a vehemence, uncalled for. He swings around, and thrashes the lad.

Striken face. Bawls of shock, and bawls of pain.

Did the noise disturb his reverie? Was he embarrassed in front of the ‘saaamys’ and ‘ammas’ ? Was he afraid that some saamy or amma would scold him? What if the conductor pushed them out of the bus?

Or was he afraid of letting his son taste a joy that may not always be his ?

Jul 5, 2007

People 6:Mommy Dear

A high profile outlet of a well-known chain of jeweler’s stores. A young couple. Romance is in the air. The husband holds up many a necklace to see which suits his lovely wife the best. An adamant toddler, all of two years and a half, may be. Refusing to get down from her vantage perch, viz her mother’s hip.

Pink turns red, when the little one intrudes into the adult’s bliss. The mother struggles to balance both her burdens, small and big. The neglected husband stomps off. A bored child, slides off her hip. The sales persons watch the melee. The haggard mother is left confused and dazed.

Not even once did the husband offer to mind the child. Newly flaunted Gender Equality bowing down to stereotypes ingrained from childhood.

And the sales persons watched.
A high profile outlet. Professional service. Sans the personal touch.

Jul 1, 2007

Flame of the Forest

Introduction:

I had a lovely evening tonight. I got to meet one of my best friends from college and we spent the evening watching a play. The play was in English, titled “Flame of the Forest”, and was by Madras Players in collaboration with JustUs repertory. The theme was based on Kalki’s Sivakami yin Sabhadam (The vow of Sivakami.)

The novel is a mini-epic in modern Tamil literature, and is a saga on the lives of Sivakami, the supremely talented courtesan of the Pallavas, her beau the crown Prince, Mamalla (after whom the sea-side head-away Mahabalipuram aka Mammallapuram was named)., and the culture loving king Mahendravarma Pallavan.

It was a special play to me, because, I, however hard I tried, have not been able to trace my ancestry beyond the limits of Chennai, both my parents having five generations behind them rooted in the port-city. When talking to other tamilians from Thanjavur and Madurai , places where the grandeur of the ancient dynasties still speak tomes, I have always felt small. Chennai has always had a relatively recent history, gaining much of its importance on account of being a strategic port for the British colonizers. And that isn’t something one can boast of as a proud heritage, compared to the Meenakshi and the Brihadeswara temples.

I have had a vague feeling that Sivakamiyin Sabhadam dealt with a time of history where the Pallavas were at their pinnacle, I had never dared to read the book, as it had poetic descriptions, the language being more than what my command over my mother tongue could take. I had been pestering people to read it out to me, but no one had had the time and patience for it. So I welcomed this play with glee, and the discovery that Chennai was indeed a part of the Pallava Empire came as a bonus.

The play did not delve into the facts, but was rather a character portrayal of Mahendra Varman, the artist-philosopher-king. Sivakami, the jewel of his court, also occupied a significant part of the script, having been the protagonist of Kalki’s work.

The Storyline:

The first act had Kanchi, the flourishing culture capital of the Pallavas under the threat of a siege by the Chalukya king, Satyashraya Pulikesi. Mahendra Varman, the ruler of the land, had spent time in inventing the seven string veena, and patronizing the sculpting of the Mamallapuram rocks, that he had been oblivious to the fact that Kanchi would crumble, should Pulikesi set foot in it. An unwilling but able military strategist, he keeps his foe engaged in minor skirmishes, while he buys time to strengthen his fort. He finds an energetic general in young Paranjyothi.

Sivakami, whose divine dance Mahendra Varman worships along with the rest of his empire, is in love with his only son Mamalla. The noble king stoops low to prevent royalty mingling with common blood, and keeps his son within the confines of his fort, and offers to send Sivakami (who lives in a forest, and is exposed to attack) to safety. Sivakami, full of desire and will, refuses to oblige.

The next act was a personal favorite. Mahendra Varma is playing his seven-string veena, while Paranjyothi brings in news of the siege being even real than feared. Paranjyothi implores Mahendra to don his war gear and get into the offensive. Mahendra responds saying “ I took so many years to discover that seven strings produced the most divine sounds. I have composed a new raga, and it fills me with joy”. The vexed Paranjyothi urges the King to stop playing his veena and to come out into the fray. Disturbed from his world of creation, and rudely brought back to the reality of destruction, Mahendra whips up the hidden vigour of his lineage and dons the war gear.

By a twist of fate, Nature intervenes with the monsoon showers, depriving the Chalukyas of their provisions. Mahendra extends a hand of friendship and invites Pulikesi to his capital. He treats his new friend to Sivakami’s divine performance, and shows him the art and architecture of Kanchi. He reveals his plans for a culturally rich sub continent, where only constructive forces exist.

But the Chalukya king has other plans. He captures Kanchi by deceit and fatally injures Mahendra, and takes Sivakami his captive. On the death bed, Mahendra vows to destroy Vatapi, the Chalukya capital to avenge Kanchi, and bring back Sivakami, the living soul of Kanchi.

Paranjyothi and Mamalla(crowned Narasimha Varma) fulfill his last wish. Paranjyothi disillusioned by the war, becomes a wandering mendicant, healing people in his wake, he who once had a gory glory.

Mamalla, pining for his love, disguises as a merchant of bangles and attempts to rescue Sivakami. But Sivakami refuses deliverance by stealth. The soul of Kanchi refuses to be redeemed unless by war and valour. Mamalla, fulfills his sweet heart’s desires. But is forced to marry the Pandya princess, to gain reinforcements for his revenge. Sivakami, who once demanded Vatapi to be burned to ashes, just as Kanchi had been, pleads to Mamalla to leave Vatapi unhurt. Her change is attributed to the nine years of confinement and the maturity having born with age. Sivakami returns to her homeland, but not to her love.
She dedicates herself to the temple, and becomes the chief devdasi.

The Play:

Mahendra Varman played by Deesh Mariwala, (a popular artist, as I gathered from my friend) played the character well, but that’s where the accolades end. He was faithful to the script (by Gowri Ramnarayan, who writes for The Hindu) but if at all there was any spark in his performance it was because of the script. The relevance of Mahendra’s dilemma to today’s world was brought out subtly. A man of finer instincts, a lover of art, a just king, a patron of all religions, a man whose diplomacy resembled the CBMs of the Indo-Pak Governments. He was a man who aspired for the Satya Yuga, the age of truth, fully aware that he belonged to the Kali Yuga, the age of treason. Gowri’s script has done complete justice to this, although my mother tells me that Kalki himself had vividly sketched the character so, in the original. An idealist at heart, he responds to calls of duty, strategizing like a fox to save his kingdom from the enemy’s preying eyes. However dear Sivakami and her art is to him, he gets malicious, in separating the lovers. He might be a secular man, envisaging a temple for every faith, but he is unable to let go his hold on caste differences when it comes to his own son, a prince by birth, falling for a lowly courtesan, however divine her art may be. The irony of his character, speaks of the momentary demise that all ideals undergo, when it boils down to one’s own self.
Kudos to the script writer, be it gowri or kalki.

Sivakami, the younger version was played by Mythili Prakash. Her performances had more to do with dance, than acting. But that was nevertheless a treat. Priyadarshini Govind played the older Sivakami, the chief devdasi, and had also choreographed the dance sequences.

The stage setting had been quite lacklustre. Nothing spectacular for a backdrop, and the lights mostly yellow, served little more than to accentuate the silks and gold worn by the cast. Costumes were not garrish, as is the case with such historical plays, but that did have a downside as well. The grandeur of the King and his court were not brought out. He didnt even wear a crown.

But there were some impressive theatrics. Verses from the original were sung, and their meanings enacted or danced to, and explained in English, the translation paying attention to details and not ruining the beauty of the original. In one scene, where the declaration of siege is followed by diplomatic efforts of Mahendra, the happenings in between are gossiped by the courtiers who are busy getting the room ready for the entry of the two foe turned friends. The supporting cast go about getting the stage ready, while the play is still on. The setting for this scene was quite elaborate with lounges, umbrellas , and cushions, brass lamps, and flowers. All this would have taken more than a few minutes to get ready, and an unwelcome break in the flow.
V.Balakrishnan played many characters, notable among them being Paranjyothi and Pulikesi. He was so good, that I did not realise that Pulikesi and Paranjyothi were the same person, till he removed his head wrap(as pulikesi) during a fight scene. It was his wavy long hair that shook with the war moves, that gave him away. His diction and delivery were very good, but nothing much could be said of the expressions, while Dheesh (Mahendra) scored an edge over him in this department.
For the women, Mythili as the young Sivakami, had a soft but powerful voice and delivery, which emphasised the doe-eyed tigress that Sivakami was. Priyadarshini as the older Sivakami, was very convincing, her voice breaking with the weight of emotion. Both of them did not resort to any advanced theatrics, but did leave nothing to complain about.
Saving the best for the last. My most favorite part of the play was the concluding act. The time where the older Sivakami reminisces of her past. Her captivity in Vatapi, her pining for Mamalla, her fool hardy refusal of Mamalla's initial rescue attempts, and the rationale behind pleading for toning down the impact of a war that she had demanded from Mamalla. All these were performed as dance sequences that followed the english rendition of the verses. The dance was performed by Priyadarshini in the fore, with Mythili, as the younger Sivakami behind. Both their dances were choreographed similarly with subtle differences. Priyadarshni's brought out the emotions of a woman visiting her past, remorse and longing heightened. Mythili's was the new, raw feeling of the moment, the emotional roller coaster of the present. This attempt at a flashback, bringing out the then and the now, was very very novel and held me enthralled. The last sequence where Sivakami says that when she dedicated herself to the services of the temple "she lost herself in the divine. And she found herself in the divine", Priyadarshini's expressions and movements conveyed the soothing peace that she had immersed herself in, while Mythili's was rapture at a new bliss engulfing her troubled soul... Amazing synchronization by the duo. Was out of the world.
Stopped for a late night ice-cream, in Chennai's surprisingly not-so-balmy air, and came home with the satisfaction of an evening well spent.

Jun 28, 2007

A Manic Monday

Why do people commit suicide?

This was the thought with which I woke up day before yesterday morning. Sternly conditioned to abstain from uttering or thinking of anything remotely macabre by generations of superstitious matrons, I found myself propped up in bed in the wee-hours of a madras Monday pondering over this with clinical interest. Why would anyone want to seek peace in an unknown realm, than find a way in the known? How would life be, if one knew what comes after death?
After-life or After-death has been the mirage over which the religions of the world have rooted their foundations. From the cyclic theory of the oriental religions and the tangential moksha, the linear ideology of the occident culminating in the pearly gates to heaven or the pit below, to the zany experiment born in the mind of Douglas Adams, this ambiguity has given rise to it all.

The circumstances that had me wondering on such lines, were quite uncanny. I was totally sleep-deprived, and had read the papers before going to sleep. Had glanced upon the crime section, which I don’t usually dwell much upon. Had a weird dream, and woke up to listen to a suicide case of a woman, and her husband’s role in it, being read out by the unemotional mechanical voice of a regional channel news reader.

I walked through the day pre-occupied, with such questions in mind, wondering for the first time without any emotion, even detachment.(And yes, detachment, too is an emotion.)

Before I went to bed that day, I had mentioned my weird morning to one new friend, that I had stumbled upon in orkut. That night I had a weirder dream. A barren village, parched mud tenements. The houses grow and multiply, but the inhabitants perish. People wonder about some curse, seeing healthy ones perish. A lone man, an outcast whose tobacco-stained teeth and cracked feet are my only impressions left of him, keeps muttering to himself. “All will be well, when the good people will come” is what he keeps repeating to himself. When the village folk finally heed to his words, and exasperatedly ask “Who will send the good peole you keep mumbling about?” “GOD”, someone yells, and it all comes reeling into wake-fulness. The clock showed 2 am. I was so sleepy, but too confused to sleep, that the room started spinning. I called out to my father, who was sleeping beside me. He just patted my head and I don’t know when I fell back to sleep.

I don’t know if it’s a premonition of sorts. My mom just says it’s the novels I read. Or perhaps the impressions I form of my observations. Or that I was merely stressed.
I don’t know what it was. But it was mighty strange.

Read some book, some time back, not able to recollect, where some character says that aliens keep tab of us by stealing our consciousness during our sleep. If it is H2G2, I shall be pretty much convinced they have done a rush job with mine yesterday night…

Jun 19, 2007

People 5

The Fallen Lord of the Bridge

Nightly Prowls of the straying Southwesterly winds. Showers that moisten a dry metropolis. Every street that is some street, every gully that is some gully sequestered with miniature ponds of brown, green and gray. Tyre trenches cut patterns in the soft earth. Twin puddles of emerald. Bright verdant new leaves of spring seeking kinship with the shy hidden moss. A bridge of hardened cement. Work abandoned in the rain.

A man in brown shirt and blue lungi. Sleeves rolled up. Lungi drawn in carelessly between his legs. The Lord of the bridge. A head of tousled lifeless hair, bent down. Loss and weariness screaming out his drooping shoulders.

Is he broke? What ails him? Did an elusive sweetheart shatter his heart? Has a dear one left him to face the world alone ? Did he lose a job? Was it aching bones? Was he a criminal on the run, catching his breath? Was it guilt that weighed him down? Was he shutting out hungry faces back home? Had he bowed down in resingnation to a cruel fate? Was he contemplating something deeper? Perhaps the futile search for the meaning of life?
..............Or was it hangover from the night’s toddy?

Jun 8, 2007

Har Har, Jujhar.


Happened to watch Headlines Today the past two days. Was forced to run away from the drawing room leaving behind a half eaten dinner* for the first time in my life.

Day 1:

The Host: Jujhar Singh

The topic of discussion: Women’s rights groups up in arms against profane ads.

The cause of Nausea:

The ‘ad-nauseum’ in question was one advertisement for Amul Macho showing a couple of ladies grow green when the village belle seemingly sees bliss in washing her man’s underwear. The arbitrator Mr. Jujhar Singh pitted Mr.R.Balakrishnan (of Cheeni Kum fame) against a women’s rights activist. I am perennially skeptical about anyone with feminist leanings, and had been reasonably impressed by Mr.Balki from the reviews of his movie, and was naturally quite interested in how the argument was going to fare.

Mr.Balki defended his fraternity with a fairly lame argument saying the ad was infact liberationist by showing a female boldly expressing her sexuality. He also did not fail to commend the “creative” juices that poured into the “masterpiece”.
There are so many brilliant ads that so many of us have grown up with, and cherish even though the products they advertised have long become obsolete, and they did not resort to such blatant profanity to be creative. But our dear Mr. Arbitrator lapped up this argument, with a fervent “Aye Aye, Sir”.

This rights activist was slightly different from her ilk, in the sense, that she didn’t raise her voice, although she didn’t really approve of her opponent’s views. She quietly discounted all the aspects, that she had initially put forth, (like women’s dignity, sensibility, blah blah, and the like) but hung on to one particular PoV, that of the aesthetics that this kind of explicit lewdness would instill in young Indians. Mr. Balki had no solid answer to this.
That’s when our heroic arbitrator jumped in and drawled with a resonant belch (that was meant to pass off as a stylish nasal accent), “But, ma’m, don’t you think we are over-reacting and stifling the creativity of our talented young ad-makers?”

Tolerance Meter hit red, and I ran out, secretly wishing I had a stronger hold on my senses.

Day 2:

The host: Jujhar Singh again.

Heated Debate on: Yuvraj vs. Yuvraj.

The cause of Vertigo, Nausea, and partial deafness:

Yuvraj Singh’s birthday bash case. Neelam Mahajan poised to create a new record in pushing the decibels, the wronged mother fuming in the studio, and Mrs.Singh, on the phone. Our dear arbitrator went tipsy with glee. For the lady beside him was set for some action.
The matter being sub-judice was of course something that HT and our dear Jujhar had so graciously chosen to overlook. Mrs.Singh not being able to hold up to Mrs.Mahajan’s well-toned vocal chords looked like a lamb ready for sacrifice.
Had it not been Jujhar and HT’s shrewd move to keep the two ladies physically separated from each other, the damage to life and property would have been immense. A heated exchange of words ensued. Some even warranting a defamatory suit, that might have had Mrs. Singh in the studio, and Mrs. Mahajan on phone, maybe, for want of a refreshing change.
Jujhar gave a toothy smile, and blurted out something inane in his guttural twang. In case, you had been counting the morsels on your plate for want of a suitable diversion, and had to lift your head fearing a crick in the neck, the progress of the fight flashed on the screen, each scandalous utterance making way to a new line of trash, uhmm… flash.

Tolerance Meter went bonkers. I stumbled out of the room, fighting for dear life and desperately clinging on to what was once my sanity.


*: Was forced to flee, as for reasons best known to him, my father insisted on keeping HT on at full volume. Jujhar kept chasing me to the remotest corner of the house, with his debonair din.

May 28, 2007

In the eyes of a Stranger....

Came across this article while browsing through Wikitravel. Written in 2005 by a foreigner touring Chennai and India, on his first impressions.

Felt nice reading it.

Some excerpts:

"Chennai has a population of over six million, although when out and about and caught in the crowds I often feel that the total population of India just happens to be on the street I am on. No matter how many times I walk through the city, I am still fascinated by what I see. I recently took a walk through the crowded Triplicane area of the city at dusk and became part of the neon-hazed vibrancy. A cacophony of vehicles horns mingled with voices, overrun by the haunting call to prayers from the city’s largest mosque."

I have my own memories of evening walks in Triplicane, where I spent a significant portion of my summer vacations (My granny's place). Despite the summer heat, evenings in this sea-side locality were of intense activity. Home to a majority of the city's muslims, it also houses an ancient Vaishnavaite temple. My relatives still live on a street which has a temple at one end and a mosque at the other. The temple end has a Hindu name, and the Mosque end a Muslim one. Even during the Ganesh Chathurthi riots in the '90s this street was by and large peaceful, the residents living in blissful harmony for generations.


"I watched boys play cricket in the back streets and children flying kites from rooftops. I looked at the intricately drawn kolams on the floor, drawn by women at the entrances to homes, and watched both young and old stop to offer a prayer at a streetside shrine. Someone asked “Which country?” as he passed by. In response to my answer, he smiled, gave a head wobble and continued on his way, content in the knowledge he had “met” a foreign visitor. "

The Kite flying was something the little kids in the house used to look forward every evening. Trying to cut the thread (termed "deal") of the other kites, deftly manouevering your own for a narrow escape from a sly neighbor; it was a colorful fete, that made me a sky-watcher for life. (Being the youngest cousin, I was usually left to watch the skies, holding the "maanja" thread reel).

Praying at a street side shrine is a very frequent practice amongst chennai-ites. People walking on a crowded street, suddenly stop in front of a Ganesh enshrined on a building wall, stalling the human traffic behind them, jerk their slippers free, and start veneratively slapping their cheeks. Though not a stranger to the scene, I have always found this practice rib-tickling much to the chagrin of the elders in the family.

"I ate like a king in an up-market restaurant and minutes later passed a street dweller eating rice and sambar (spicy gravy) from a banana leaf while squatting on the pavement."

The innumerable "Kai-yenthi" (literally translated means 'hand-held') bhavans, the mobile street side shops that feed the millions under and slightly over the poverty line, (sometimes, others too) are fascinating to watch. The brisk business they do in the limited space and infrastructure that the push-cart shall permit leaves one amused. Though they do mess up the environment around them, they have been a boon for many a famished stomach.

I liked the article not only because, it brought back some memories of my hometown. It gave a valuble insight into something that I have been feeling towards my adopted city as well. (as a quote from Pico Iyer)

"we start out by laughing at what we regard as the follies of another culture. Then we move towards bewilderment as we begin to leave parts of our own culture behind. Eventually, we end up somewhere completely different from where we set out. Hopefully, that new state of mind is better than the place we left behind and is much closer to the culture we find ourselves in. "

When I first came to Bangalore, I was so overwraught with home-sickness and was frequently prone to comparing it with my home-town. Though any outsider would prefer Bangalore's climate to Chennai's, I was busy convincing myself that I would never like this place.
But, when found myself telling people 'how this is like- in- bangalore', and 'how this is not like- in -bangalore', every single day of my recent three week stay in Chennai, I realised how much I had grown to relate myself with my surrogate city, and how much I missed it. Its was not just the roads, the climate and the culture. I had even started to cherish the general hospitality with which Bangaloreans had treated me , a stranger. Although, I have had my share of mishaps, they evened out in the end.

Maybe, as the author of the article says "Incongruity is the essence of modern India....You can’t change India, India changes you.” Perhaps, this is the case with anyone trying to blend in an new society.

May 25, 2007

Musing Over Music



I have been listening to a playlist comprised entirely of vintage A.R.Rahman and classic Illayaraja songs for the past couple of weeks. I usually get bored with a song, even an all time favourite, if I get to listen to it for more than a few days.

I had chosen some of ARR’s songs that had come as a fresh lease of life to Tamil film music, long before he got entrapped in the labyrinth of genre-music. I am not too fond of his recent offerings, most of them being extremely experimental, some ending up as fusion- confusions. In addition to this, my playlist also included Illayaraja’s score for the 80’s wizards of tinseldom, viz Mani Ratnam, Mahendran and Balu Mahendra and K.B. (The list also included a few songs of Harris Jeyraj.)

I had done this on a whim, and the result, on shuffle, was a multi-hued thoroughfare.
As I was wondering yesterday about why I hadn’t grown tired of this selection until now, I found myself musing about these two maestros that I had grown up listening to.

Illayaraja, in my opinion, scored music in tune with the storyline. His songs were not sung by the SPB and Chitra nor by Kamal Hassan and Rajnikant, but by the characters on the filmmaker’s canvas. His music brought life to a situation on screen, endearing it to the audience. His instruments spoke a language that percolated deeper than the script.
I simply couldn’t listen to a single song without recalling the situation that song fit into.

(Instances: En Vanile from Johnny, Yenna satham intha neram from Punnagai Mannan, Mayilpola from Bharathi, Unnavida from Virumandi (the use of a truck’s sounds, and bullock cart bells are lovely),Ne Partha Parvaiku oru nandri from Hey Ram)

A.R.Rahman, on the other hand came as a fresh whiff of spring air in the midst of winter, with his Roja. His songs grow on you. There is something new in them each time you listen.They don’t jell with the characters on the silver screen as much as Illiyaraja’s do, but as stand-alone renditions, they shine.
But Rahman isn’t an all -sound- and -no-substance kind of composer. I don’t know if that was his intention, but wherever he is provided with sensible lyrics, Rahman has embellished them with his masterful strokes.
His style can be called mood-music, he tries to capture the general mood of the situation, and sometimes comes up with stellar compositions. His music is difficult to picturise, and very few directors have done justice to it. Even the choreography needs a fillip to match the myriad of sounds that come in one go.

(Instances:
Lyrical Embellishments:
“Kaanathane Kangal, Kaneer sintha illai” from Halla Gulla, Bombay – (Eyes are meant to see, not to shed tears)
“Unnodu naan konda bantham…” from Santhosha Kannere, Uyire (Tried a translation in previous post)
“siru paravai nee aanal, un vaanam naane” – Pudhu Vellai Mazhai Roja (If you are a bird, I am your sky)
Mood Music:
Thenkizhaku seemayile from Kizhaku seemayile
Porale Ponnuthayi,Then merku paruva kaatru from Karuthamma
Vidai Kodu engal naade from Kannathil Mutham Ittal
Minnale from May Madham
Thirakaatha , chinna chinna mazhai thuligal from En Swasa Kaatre
Kala kala megam from Rhythm.
)

As for Harris Jeyraj, he is capable of producing lilting music, and conjuring hits. But his songs can never be ever green. I once ended up humming two different songs together, thinking that they were one. There is something trite and repetitive about his music, but nevertheless, it is pleasant to the ear-drums.
Of Late, there has been a dearth of phenomenal music, that is born to be immortal. Time is ripe for a new wave. Wish that happens before I get bored of this playlist.

May 22, 2007

A letter to the Editor

Wrote the following letter to "The Hindu" regarding an article of the editor's daughter topping an US university. This kind of a propaganda is demeaning to any real achiever, something akin to blowing one's own trumpet. I am not sure how much of my letter would be published, if at all it is published. Here it is below :

Dear Editor,

This is in reference to your “news item” on Ms Ram’s academic achievements. I have been a staunch defender of “The Hindu” whenever someone said that it is not what it used to be. For in today’s world of frenzied media activity, I was of the opinion that “The Hindu” retained a certain appreciable degree of sanity.
But this particular coverage of Ms. Ram’s achievements and profiling of her academic career came as an assault to my beliefs. Publishing something that would be better off as an “advertiser’s feature” in the middle of the news section (thankfully, not as an editorial) seems to put “The Hindu” on the same standing as the TV and newspaper endeavors of Tamil Nadu’s leading political parties.
The common reader of a paper like “The Hindu” doesn’t generally expect to see blatant propaganda of any sort, leave alone the academic glory of the editor’s family member. Of what good, would this bit of news do to me, as a reader hard pressed for time to keep pace with the news, I fail to follow.
And besides, if Ms. Ram is an exceptional budding journalist, then, let her be profiled in the supplements concerning education, and not in the main newspaper. A feature of this nature befits a person who has won a prestigious award for her professional acheivements, which is not the case here.
All around the globe, in the hallowed portals of many a glorious institution, Indian students are topping the ranks every other year. Not all of them get featured even in the corner of your weekly supplements.
A decade back, I would be fully confident that such a letter of criticism would definitely be published, but yesterday’s story hints at an attitude that would rather send this letter to the trash. Please maintain the quality of unbiased and sensible news reporting that “The Hindu” has been known for all these years and kindly refrain from sensationalization of this caliber.

Regards,
SuCh



May 14, 2007

“Do you have change for 100 Rupees?”

I planned to get ready early today. But by some celestial conspiracy, couldn’t make it on time.The last bus that stopped at my bus-stop had left. I caught an auto to the next stop. There was a bus due there in the next 5 mins. I tried to keep the fare ready, so that I need'nt waste time in paying for the auto.
I could not find my purse . I pulled out all the articles that populated my overloaded bag. All those things I had been searching for since time immemorial materialized out of the frantic exercise.
Rummaging through all the rubble, I fished out a 100 Rupee note and a 5 rupee coin, stuffed in some inner compartment of my bag, lying forgotten for days.

In compliance with Murphy’s laws, it so happened that the auto driver had to say that he did not have a ‘single paisa’ on him, me being his first savari for the day. I asked him to wait, got down and began asking all those fellow employees who were waiting for the bus. Some pretended not to hear, some shook their heads in denial even before I could address them. Some were deeply engaged in a telepathic conversation with the crow on the tree above. Most gave a very toothy grin, that made me feel that they were happy not to have been in my shoes. Perhaps they didn’t realise I was not begging but was just asking for change.

I would have asked atleast a dozen, when one lady finally felt it appropriate to check her purse before she answered. She had a fifty rupee note, which offered me. I took it and asked for name so that I could return it to her. She said “First pay the auto driver, I ll tell you afterwards”.

I went to the auto driver, imploring him to accept the 50 rupee note, and somehow come up with the change (as they do, sometimes). But Murphy struck again, by providing me with a “truthful” auto driver (a rare species), who genuinely did not have a ‘single paisa’ on him. Just then, someone else who was late and was hurrying for the bus came by. I stopped him with the same request. “Do you have change for 100 Rupees?” By now the question had become so trite to me, that I hardly expected an answer. That guy took out his purse and looked into it, despite his haste. All that he had were 100 Rupee notes. “How much do you want?”, he asked. The auto driver offered “hathu rupai saakamma” meaning “10 rupees is enough” (I was supposed to pay Rs 12). The good samaritian then fished out all the coins he had, and managed to bring out 5 rupees, that with my 5 rupee coin would make the needed 10. I thanked him profusely; I thanked the auto driver with equal fervour and gave the fare. I asked for my benefactor’s whereabouts, but he said “Its just 5 rupees, don’t bother returning”. I returned the 50 bucks to the lady, and thanked her for her genorosity. And waited for the bus. (Murphy got bored, I guess, the bus mercifully was late.)

This incident actually took me back to another point of time, where the bus I was travelling in, met with an accident. Many of us got injured. The rest, who were unharmed, simply got on to the next bus and went to office. The less injured had to help carry the severely wounded to a nearby polyclinic.
I was appalled at the lack of concern these people have towards their fellow employees. To think of the apathy, they would show towards rest of humanity, would leave me in shudders.

Although many corporates involve themselves in community service and the like, much of it is voluntary. I really feel that making this mandatory, would help sensitize these people ,with their minds as confined as their cubicles, to the world outside.

May 7, 2007

People 4 : Unwind

A Rickety Truck. The Cargo – Human. Migratory workers. Crossing borders. Packed like sardines.
A woman past her prime, eyes abalze with the fire within. Standing steady as the vehicle coughs and splutters in the traffic. Inches from her feet, playful youngsters chitter away, perched precariously on a ledge. One lad turns with a sudden jerk.

His gaze falls upon the plush air-bus of an IT company. He scans every single passenger, reclined in varying degrees - dozing, fretting, and relaxing after a ‘tiring’ day. His face contorts. As his eyes meet mine, in the last seat, I search for my feet, fleeing from an inexplicable guilt.

His jolly companion taps him on the shoulder, realising his friend’s silence. The contortion breaks into a loud laugh. He points out to each one of his ‘specimens’. Fun and merry continues. Unwinding, after a ‘tiring’ day.

Apr 26, 2007

Hmm............



Was listening to Santhosha Kaneere from Uyire ( 'Dil Se Re' from Dil Se)


Unnodu Naan Konda Bantham
Mannodu Mazhai Konda Sontham
Kaainthaalum Adi Eeram Enjum



Translated (to the best of my ability) this would mean:


The bond that we have, my dearest
Is that of the rain and the earth
Drops ensconced in parched land...


Is it possible to find such love?

Even in this age of pink valentines , inflation and gun culture?

Or is it an amaranthus that blooms only in the mind of the poet?

Are these merely words mouthed by tragic heroes of the days gone and days to come….untouched by time then, now and later?

Apr 20, 2007

Of Nose Studs and Tantrums

There is this lady who comes to my bus stop. Her husband drops her everyday on a two wheeler, with a little toddler perched up in front.

She comes to the bus stop in the nth moment just managing to catch the bus. Her son makes his dad go by the bus till it takes a turn, and mother and child keep waving at each other.

Sitting next to her, I enjoy this daily routine, as I see the mother’s face brighten despite the tell-tale signs of an extracting process of getting ready for work. She dressed well, a smart professional. But not as meticulously as a single woman. A tiny diamond stud sparkled on her nose, totally out of place with her attire. A mixture of tradition and modernity.

She reminded me of my own mother, in a remote way. My mother was a first generation graduate who proceeded with her masters as well. She chose to work only after I reached a stage where I didn’t need her attention much. Although I might appreciate her choices more now, there was a time when I was ashamed of and disappointed with her. She never dressed well. She wasn’t smart and trendy like the other mothers. She didn’t converse fluently in English. This was because English became her medium of education only in college. I did not see that she managed so well, inspite of only a few years aquaintance with the language. I was embarassed at her vernacular influenced diction. Inspite of the fact she was the person who introduced books to me, I was annoyed at her ignorance of Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew. Although, she read Tintin and Disney out to me, I grew up to despise her indulgence in Shivashankari and Mangaiyar malar.

There was this one incident that remains fresh in my memory. It was parent-teachers meeting in school. My father was glued to the TV. There was a cricket match on. My mother was getting ready to come to school with me. She wore a traditional cotton sari and jasmines in her hair. Many may not be able to relate to what followed, but just to give a background; I was studying in a school that had only the posh kids in town as students. My parents, prompted by the desire to give me the best, even if it was beyond their capacity had enrolled me there. I was watching my mom getting dressed in this fashion, with mounting apprehension. She then applied talcum powder that caked a little here and there. That was it. A bawling 5 year old shook the household. Even my cricket obsessed father was forced to look up. My demand – Amma should not come for parent teachers meeting. Let Appa come. Otherwise I will never go to school in my life again. My confused parents kept asking me what the reason behind this sudden strike was. In my own infantile set of morals, I did find the real reason cruel. But still, I did not relent. I kept on reiterating my demand, avoiding the why of it. My mother tried all options. She finally hit the bull’s eye. And I nodded teary eyed, half red in shame, half red in guilt. My dad was irritated. He started on a reprimand, when my mother started laughing, and went in to change back to her home clothes. My father was forced to give up his cricket match and come for the parent teachers meet.

Years later, when I was watching the re-run of Malgudi Days on TV, I was reminded of this incident where Swami goes through a similar predicament with his granny. I recounted this incident, asked my mother why she had given in to my tantrums. She smiled and said that my complaints were nothing. One of her sisters had introduced their own mother to her friends as the lady-help in the house, just because she wore her hair in a high bun which wasn’t in vogue then. It seems my aunt repents it till date, and all her siblings still taunt and tease her with this.

May be the reason why I see beauty in the odd diamond stud on the nose of the lady next to me , is because my mother simply smiled that day, two decades back. My mother had the choice to be modern and hip. And the means. But she chose not to. Those were her choices. She dared to be different. She was traditional. I would teach my children to appreciate their tradition. To be proud of it, and not embarassed by it, like the way I was. But then again, may be not. They could learn by themselves, just the way I did.

Apr 17, 2007

Can I ?



I can't expect everyone to behave the same way as I do. Can I ?

I can't expect everyone reciprocate my acts of friendship. Can I?

I can't expect to be accepted wholly for who I am. Can I ?

I can be lonely even when I am not alone. Can I ?

I can't stop feeling used and discarded. Can I ?

I can't always be the detached emotionless person, that I seem to be.Or Can I ?

I can't afford to see through people . Can I?

I can't give up fooling myself. Can I?

I can't expect the tears to dry up each time I cry.Can I ?

Apr 5, 2007

People 3: Small Wonders




It’s my life.

The lady of the house bathes under a half laid pipe. Clothes on. Her husband watches guard. The sky, their roof. The morning sun fingers the scaffolding. Rubble pierces their hardened soles/souls. ‘Hurry up’ yells the fore-man. The day’s work waits. Hunching herself into a human ‘U’ she rushes into the shack. Her youngest wails.
Others idle around, sunken eyes and sunken bellies.

The bus of the corporate they are building to grow, whizzes by. A shirtless little man jumps up. His eyes light up with excitement. Up and down, up and down. He does a little jig of joy. Milk white teeth flash. A new day has begun.


Motion.

A national highway. The lifeline of the soft city. Chocablock with vehicles. Thick grey smoke clouds the atmosphere. And the minds stuck (in the traffic). Some lose patience. Some lose interest. Some others lose lives. The national highway. A life-line of the soft city. Chocked.

A sub-urban school. All of two rooms. And a neem tree. Routine deaf to the road gasping outside its gates.

Bell rings. Freedom.

Four nimble feet. Pushing the wind on the divider. A tight chase. Movement in the middle of stagnation. Giggles. Pursuer and the pursued. Taste of free air.

The traffic stopped. So did everything else.

Note:

I was listening to Bon Jovi’s “It’s my life” when I saw the exhilarated little fella. I couldn’t think of anything more apt for a title.

Mar 28, 2007

Yours Humbly

In response to a rare compliment on certain aspects of her looks, a wildly popular someone said,

"Ah! Shush... Real beauty is a reflection of the spirit. But then again, one shouldn't exaggerate much. After all, my spirit might have some miniscule failings...”


Some people are born modest.

Mar 20, 2007

People 2: Gourmet Glimpses


Perfection


It was a soup stall. “Pasumai Thamizh Soup Nilayam”. (Translated as “Lush (could also mean evergreen/refreshing) Tamil Soup Stall). All of four shiny stainless steel pots and a burning fire. The radio in the bus blares. The health ministry ‘s awareness broadcast. “ Insist on clean utensils and covered food”.
A man in spotless white behind the 30-inch frame . There are no customers. But he is busy. He places one pot on the fire. Opens the lid just enough to insert the ladle. Stirs. Deliberate circular movements. Removes it off the fire, with a towel whose whiteness would put a swan to shame. His hands move at rigid right angles. Robot-like.
Puts up a new pot to heat. Bends down to inspect the surroundings of his stall. Clears a little dust here and there. Pushes a scrap paper aside.

Is this perfection? Or a novel method to tide through the lean periods of trade?. Is it his first day at work? Who is he trying to impress? Am I getting impressed? Would I prefer his soup to the one at Subway? How long will he be able to do it? Wont he get bored soon?

Satisfied with the ambience, he gets back to his kitchen. A few yards away, a potential customer relieves himself of his fluid waste.

***************

Mastery


A dingy market corner. A rotting wooden box. Upturned. Spreading behind it is a huge figure. Squatting on the ground. Dark and hideous. Perspires in gallons. A fiery fire on the pump stove. With sweaty palms, he pulls and pushes. The dough is putty in his hands. Magic pours out his fingers into the bubbling oil. Hot jilebis. Orange spirals of sheer delight. A motley clientele waits. Mouth watering. He pushes aside his messy curls. The flesh of his dark bulging arms reverberating with the effort.

The jilebis look tempting. My mother can never make such good looking ones. Such craft. In such a setting. Perhaps the sweat and the grime adds to the appeal.
Yewww… how disgusting can I get!

***************




Acknowledgement:

The last one about the jilebis is second hand. Was related to me by my mother. But the closing commentary is solely mine. The reaction of course, was hers.


Mar 17, 2007

People 1: Pavement Pictures.

Gaze

She sat on the pavement. It was a busy Monday morning. Rush hour traffic. There was a school behind her. The children rode their bicycles on the platform to avoid the menacing vehicles. Some losing balance and perilously wobbling about. She sat there.
With her little cloth bag. Her worldly possessions. Her gaze unflinching. She stared at the world around, and beyond. Horns honked. Irate commuters traded tempers.
Silver in her locks, face wizened. Clocks seemed to have stopped long ago. She sat there. Timeless. Dead and Alive.

Was she once a little girl? Red ribbons and blue skirts. Hopping and skipping in some dry southern village. Care-free and happy. Was she once a dainty maiden? Dreams in her eyes and a future in her hand. Was she ever a loving mother and wife? Raising little ones and running a home. She sat there. Why was she there and then?

The signal turned green. She sat there. I moved on.

**************
Beats

A triangular isle. A lone inhabitant. Deluge of yellow headlights all around. Whirring whirlpools of gold. He was ecstatic. Dum! Dum! Dum! He beat the plastic bottle to time a cosmic rhythm. Soot and black camouflaged his contours. A sepia smile adorned his euphoria.

An undisputed King reigning from the fringe, reclining on a throne of dirty gunny sacks. Watching the teaming drones burn themselves out. Watching with detachment. With amusement. Beating his bottles to express something beyond grasp, or to kill his ennui.

Was he a mystic? A nomadic mendicant of the myths. Was he a madman? Gone bonkers. What is madness? Who is mad?

The indicator flashed. I turned, his cadence lingering.

***************

Acknowledgement:

This was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend on street photography. His passion for it was infectious. Not that I started watching people after that, but just that I thought it would mean more to me, if I captured those sights and insights in some manner.

Mar 13, 2007

Sol's soup for the Soul

The greatest fear is the fear of failure.

Go on, get on with your lives... Dont worry about me, I'd be alright.. (And leave me alone, for Godsake!)

The best kind of tribute is silence.

There has to be something good about everything.The question is, whether one wants to see it or not.

The best time on earth is when one can own every passing second.

The bigger picture is always better;The details being miracles.

Music becomes melody when the words dont seem to matter.

The strange can become familiar, and the familiar strange. Time is the greatest trickster of all time!

Love is a flattering feeling.

Its easy to be mysterious, but tough to be open.

We are all born with a burden, that of pleasing ourselves.


Disclaimer:

Some of these are my two cents on life. The rest, unforeseen consequences of too many Prav's world forwards .

Feb 16, 2007

Differentiating Difference.

This morning, was a sleepy one. Reluctant to let go of the last shreds of my morning nap in the bus, I stepped out dreary and bleary. My senses were rudely shaken by the chitter-chatter amongst the fellow commuters, eager and enthusiastic to start a new day. In my meta-state, I imbibed all the words that be-fell my ear, like a sponge. After, a considerable phase lag, I could make out at least five different languages being spoken. I was pleasantly amused at the diversity that I encounter day in and day out, without realizing it. This led to the train of thought that follows.

The school that I studied in was owned and run by members of a certain caste-based group. The quality of education, I must say, was above average and the school produced many an achiever. However, the culture that it professed was largely tuned to suit that particular community, and presence of others, was largely ignored. I was almost a frog in the well, not knowing how to interact comfortably with people beyond that community, with no inkling of the world that functions outside it. Amongst the students, at least in the years I spent there, a vague sense of caste linked differences prevailed, although nothing was explicit.

Once I passed out of school, and pursued my collegiate studies, the afore mentioned community's presence was reduced to a minimum, and those members that were, seemed to have much more open mind. People from all over the state, with different backgrounds, economical and familial mingled, and differences relating to caste gradually blurred. There still remained a certain criteria for affinity, that of belonging to the same district or region of the state. But this was amongst some members of the staff, and fewer of the hostellers.

It so happened, that I had to shift to another city that being a supra-cosmopolitan one, for work. People from all over the country swarmed in, and a mini-India was constituited. Here, caste, creed and region lost their significance. One had to be from your home-state, speaking your mother tongue, and the ice would thaw faster.

In all the above situations, I followed the norm, rather than dare an exception. I don’t see any anamoly in this, as it is but human nature, if not anything else. I have not ventured beyond the shores of India, perhaps when I do, I might find the state-based differences evanscent, giving place to nationality, and race based ones. Extrapolating, if men were to begin a space colony, even these would disapper, replaced by planetary differences. On the highest rung of this collectivistic ladder, maybe, all men are one, so to say, before the Supreme, a tenet shared by the ruling religions of the world.

I have not discussed religious differences yet, because it is one that transcends all levels and is omnipresent. The irony of it is, faith and religion are things which should, by principle be agnostic to such disparities.

Men cannot exist without differences. Each human is unique in his or her own way. But to be straddled with qualities which you were born into, and do not have the option to alter, can be extremely stifling. Some people fight throughout their lifetimes to free themseleves of such tags. Some others condition themselves to identify with these qualities, and start believeing that these are things that define their personalities. Pride and shame in things where one can’t place a righful claim on are nothing short of a sham.

There is a thin line between pride and prejudice. Pride that stems from one’s achivements is an exhilarating feeling. Whereas, pride that one cannot own deforms into prejudice. Shame in one’s attributes that one cannot control is a delusive emotion. Shame, on any other account, is guilt. Guilt again is a consequence of one not being able to relate or identify with oneself.

There has been no plan or purpose in what I have written till now. But it has been a subject that has intrigued me for several years, both on a conscious and an unconsious level. To understand the philosophy behind the differences which exist amidst the unity, is a quest that I can neither give up, nor end in fruitition. I know that there is much to unravel, and in the process I might end up contradicting myself. There are so many perspectives of the same picture, and each one is as illusionary and veracious as the other.

Feb 1, 2007

The Best Fit.

The confident I : I feel I am fit for everything.

The despearate I : I am fit for anything.

The persevering I : I must be fit for something.

The world : You are fit for nothing.

Voice: Doesnt anything and everything include nothing too ? Nothing is also something.

(Curtains down)

Jan 11, 2007

A Vanishing Art

Two of the blogs I often visit, carried posts of a certain degree of controversy this week. One was by a Bangalore techie, popular amongst the tamil-speaking blog junta. The post was on one of tamil nadu's yester year revolutionaries whose scent still smells strong in the state, and on the scandalous lyrics of a movie being made on the afore mentioned leader. The second blog was by an alumnus of two of India's most prestigious instituitions, on the vagaries of Tamil names and the way they are spelt and pronounced. A seemingly funny post on the noise introduced in the sanskrit -to-tamil-to-english migration of names that tamilians carry upon their persona. Both posts discuss pertinent issues and topics, worth a healthy discussion. But, the former ended up being acutely judgemental and the latter a kaleidoscope of disguised prejudices. In both cases, More than the writer, or his actual intent what disturbed me is the flurry of fascist sounding comments they provoked in their wake. I have often wondered about the dynamics and genesis of hate. Crude, barbaric and uncivilised hate. Got a glimpse of it the past week. I am not very sure if I shall survive the full view.

The post below is from an older blog of mine. On a dying art. The art of acceptance.


THE ART OF ACCEPTANCE.

Prejudices run deep. I have seen cats and dogs assert territorial sovereignty and try to be very exclusive. But, men, with the tell-tale sixth sense , the sense to discriminate right and wrong, ought to have , by the laws of evolution , matured beyond such pettiness and rightfully so.Youth of today, however keen on their personal betterment, should look at their world with an all encompassing attitude. The benevolence of a Mahatma is too much to ask for, but a rise above frivolous misgivings and misconceptions is but a humble request.In a country like ours, so rich in traditions and colossal in grandeur, the least influence its cultural wealth could have on us would be a sort of sensitization to our surroundings.Even animals, can sense frostiness, a lack of welcome, and alienation. Many schools in the west have racial clashes reverberating in their classes. Differences in religion, creed, color, wealth, status and grooming create a haphazard multi- tier system in every walk of life. The primal reason behind this malady would be a kind of evolutionary disorder, where people fail to realize that they are human beings, and that their existence lies in their progress, progress of the material kind, and more significantly progress of the mind. An eye that sees the inner beauty of every human ,a heart that resonates the inimitable beat of every other and a soul that realizes itself to be, even for a split second, a microcosm of the Supreme macrocosm, conjure the real human being. A being that is superior inherently, that glows in that supremacy. A person who prides himself for having great looks, a grandiose lineage, formidable wealth and power, declares himself to be a paragon of purity, basks in the borrowed glory of these possessions of his.Variety is the spice of life. Imagine a world where you would have to live with people who were clones of yourself. Maybe to add a pinch of salt, brothers or half brothers of your clones. Even then life would be hellish. The moribund dullness of homogeneity could be maddening. Yet, men don’t relish variety. They yearn in vain to make the world reflect their identity. Little do they realize, in this childish endeavor of theirs, they destroy the very identity that they are trying to popularize.I am not only talking of the fascists and fanatics, who under the incarceration of prejudice, go to extremes to establish themselves. Again the laws of evolution could justify their act. Survival of the fittest. Alright, you are fit, and you survive too. But why do you need to survive? To wake up every morning, to look at the sameness, the grey uniformity, the precarious bubble of your sanity at the very edge of its doom. What kind of a survival would that be? Death would be more interesting. If the Hindus went on destroying the Masjids and Muslim artifacts, would we have the Taj Mahal standing serenely as the symbol of eternal love?Prejudice and hatred create havoc and destruction in their wake, they destroy in the bud, many a potential friendship, and foster animosity in would-have-been genial relations.In its most virulent form, prejudice mutates into hatred, jingoism and fanaticism. But seemingly harmless too have their long term repercussions.A fetish nurtured by many amongst us, is the desire to stay exclusive. And more often than not, these exclusive closed congregations are mistaken to be elite.When you meet someone new, there is the instant wriggling of the nose, a Lady Bracknell attitude that sets in to nothing more than a mere digress from your tastes. There’s no harm in being self opinionated, but intolerance to differing views is a marked symptom of mental immaturity. An open mind is the most receptive mind. Many scions of royalty, have in the past, denounced their age old customs, which they saw in their true colors, as anachronisms. They are the true men and women who have grown out of the cocoons of adolescence.Every creature learns its environment by exploration. [even a Hobbit!!]. Man is an explorer not only of nature, but also of intellect. To see beyond differences, however indigestible, they may be, to explore the human mind, however tough the hurdles may be, is a supremely enriching experience.People who may crusade for world peace, equality of all human, and the burial of all differences, fail to acknowledge the mere presence of a subordinate in a public place.It’s a textual requirement of corporate etiquette nowadays, to follow a horizontal hierarchy as far as possible. The human mind is unfathomable, and it is the power of the mind, that decides the quality of human life. A curiosity to know what others think, how they think, how they perceive, how they express, is innate in every one of us. The thought process weaves its intricate yet unique patterns in every single person. A desire to discern these wonders makes you not only an amicable person but also a more enlightened one.You never know whether a novel idea lays buried in the most nondescript of minds. A stroke of brilliance can make a whale of a difference.The differences that have ingrained themselves have had their origins in unity. And its not these differences that are to be shunned. They are in fact the livery of civilization. Maturity lies in rejoicing in these differences, never letting them even once, to impair our progress.

“Civilization is the degree to which diversity is attained, unity retained” --W .H Auden.