Most Delicious Breakfast

Crispy ghee-roasted dosas, delicious chutneys ,that flavor of sambar , with the aroma of the coffee-brew upon the air - the most appetizing,satisfying morning meal. :)

Taking the bait of 'The Hunter'?

Willing to risk walking to the trap of 'Vettaikaran',for the extremely beautiful Anushka. Prayers needed.

Quote Flash

Grudges disappear between the best of friends.

Like the morning mist,without traces.

Like the drop of water,lost in the lake.

Like the pinch of salt,dissolved in the sea.

Could the dark clouds block out the rays of the sun,forever?

Unnodu naan kanda bandham,

Mannodu malai konda sondham.

Kaainthaalum,

Adi eeram minjum.

Eeram!

One day left for the semester exams,which starts off with Software Engineering.

Half a day of trying to read through the textbook,planning to finish @ the rate of 2 chapters in an hour and a half, but ending up with only 30 pages done at the end of the day,can be quite depressing. Its always a battle,especially with the Software Engineering textbook,between the Book and You,or rather your ability to ward off the Sleep demon- Inevitably,its the Book that wins.Ultimately. It is just a question of how long you can resist the comfort of dozing off with a textbook in hand.To make matters worse(sleepy),the sky is overcast.

"...when collecting productivity metrics for projects,be sure to establish a taxonomy of project types. This will enable you to compute domain-specific averages,making estimation..."

Your mind begins to wander, the music in the background begins to fade out, new voices enter you head, you are amongst a crowd cheering Sachin as he gracefully dances down the ground and lofts Hauritz for a 6,you hi5 with your fellow-cheerers,you are jerked awake.

You look at the wall clock,quickly calculating the approximate time that you dozed,and get back to the book with renewed vigor.Time passes.

"......Smith argues that any level of this structural hierarchy can be described by no more than 10 use cases...."

Your mind again begins to wander,you remember some funny use cases,Tamanna runs before you, you are lost. You wake up later to see an hour has passed,and you are way behind schedule.

F1.Help.You send texts to your friends querying their status. The previous battle was lost,you start fresh with the hope that you can win the war.You start all over again-coffee , water,pacing,and a movie.

Thats how i ended up watching Eeram movie,lasting 2:46 hrs. And it was a good movie,definitely worth a watch. A tad slow in the second half,but i wont complain seeing the circumstances that led me to watch it. Some great dialogues ,camera shots, neat performances ,the suspense element,and a subject as dry as Soft Engg(almost 700 pages of pure theory),makes Eeram a good watch.

Now its 12:10 a.m.,again off to fighting my battle.

p.s: Really,people with insomnia can out try this textbook. Worth a try,mate.

FTS.

This was the week when a student actually understood that his college is a for-profit-money-plundering-n-thieving-organisation.

"Its jus good business",he could almost hear them saying it aloud.

And he lost his money.

p.s: What can a student do about an ill-mannered,egoistic,drenched-in-self-importance n arrogant administrator-in-charge responisble for students' welfare,who also does not know/understand the concept of 'respecting people',leave alone respecting students.

p.p.s: He cant do anything,even express his views straight,because he knows he can be screwed big time,as his degree is in line.A Revenge saga for not being subservient to the Lords of the System (little Gods,they think of themselves) would follow. FTS.

Congrats to Rahul,Bala n the rest of CSE cast :)

(Saaral - Tamil Drama,part of The Theater Week)

'Vaadipatti Vyabari' ,based on 'Merchant of Venice', was a hit. The crowd was entertained,and the judges happy. Kudos to Rahul for the direction,screenplay,script,n dialogues(phew,this is some list!),and good job of adapting it to a Tamil village setting :) with a social message. Nice performances by the supporting cast, especially- Gokul as MuthuPandi(Shylock),and Deena as Anthonio (Antonio),Siva as The Naatamai (Judge),replete with the sombu, white thundu,n veshti-shatai, Prakash as the Naatamai's 'TakeHold' (allakai or edupu :) ).

Of the several creative elements in the show,the following dialogue appealed to me:

"Nyayam enbadhu oruvanin thanipatta karuthu! Oruvanuku nyayam endru thonuvathu matroruvanuku nyayamagavendum endru avasiyam illai! Enave,theepai vazhangum bodhu nyayam mattum allamal manidhavimana thayum karuthil kolla vendum!" .

(Justice is relative to the person. What appears as just to a person,need not necessarily be just to another . So,when delivering a judgement, humanitarianism should also be considered. That is universal! )

Great job, guys!

"The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga wins Booker Prize 2008".. WTF!!

Or in the words of Balram Halwai's ex-employer's wife Pinky Madam,

"What a fucking joke."

Struggled to get past the 50-page mark.

(After 45 pages of egotistic talk, the protagonist says "So,I'm sick of talking about myself , sir." Ass. It made me sick too,plus bored me almost to death)

Insipid n Cliched. Hated the tone and style of narration. Factually so many things incorrect,or rather interpreting things in a way that is quite the opposite of how it was meant. (for eg : Gods like Hanuman,the half-monkey,half-man God, are hoisted upon us,so that we servants would work with infidelity to our masters (also implied,is servitude). WTF!). Fake .

This book is probably for those who are ignorant,and does not know the deeper meaning of India. For those westerners,who'd go "wow...India is so backward!". Aravind Agida's 'The White Tiger' doesnt appeal in any way,or makes you ponder or evokes self-inquiry,or any emotions infact,except of course, the feeling of boredom.(In stark contrast to Sir V.S.Naipaul's accounts on India -An Area of Darkness(1965),Wounded Civilization(1975) .Heavy Writing. Weight-u!)

Didnt bother to cross the 100 page mark.

Lame narration. The first book ever that i'm abandoning halfway through- congrats Mr.Adiga..you have this distinction. Salutations.

What a fuckin joke.

Colors of Life

Visits to the woods are

always pleasing to

the senses : the lush green

of the forest leaves ,

the boldness of the

wild flora, the smell of the

damp forest, the company

and the solitude

that the huge 200 yr

old trees provide,the chirp of invisible insects during dusk,

the bird calls during the dawn,and what not.

Magic seeds

Green Currency

Richer Hues

Quote Flash

Forgiveness follows from Love - naturally,eventually,and inevitably.

I must say,my college does look idyllic and tranquil(atleast visually!) at this time of the year,when its raining.And feels great,when the mercury dips concomitantly.Respite from the heat,n this year's summer was really hot wasnt it!

A blanket of mist decends over the campus,and devours the surrounding mountains.The entire place looks a darker shade of its colors.Brilliant.Not everyday do you see such sights in this part of the world!

A few photographs,courtesy Rahul's N92.

Down below is the view from my classroom.It was raining incessantly for 3 days.

People who visit the campus for the first time around this time of the year,sure get mesmerized.My first visit was a similar experience,one of the reasons i choose this college-the ambience.

(Recognise which classroom offers this view,Chiju na n Div? :) )

Indian Rain

The sky was overcast over the Village.Cinereous clouds were making their way inwards towards the city,descending down the leeward slopes of the mountain.

He was walking on the road,along the pavement,kicking at the little stones that crossed his tread. He had just left the college library,having read from the day's paper that the monsoon was several crucial weeks behind schedule,and that a huge water crisis was looming over the City.

"That was news to me",he thought wryly to himself.He knew drinking water was supplied once-in-four days to the residential areas by the City Corporation,and once in 10 days to some suburbs.The image he had seen of men and women of all ages standing in the long queue by the borewell-water tap at the end of the street ,as he was walking to his bus-stop that morning,was fresh in his mind.

Dark clouds have been passing overhead for a couple of days now,but not a drop of rain fell out from the sky,even by a mistake it would seem.The clouds were not yet ready to shed their load,as against the electricity board that was very enthusiastic to shed their's-a measure borne out of the power crisis the entire region was going through.

The wind was picking up in speed and in strength,and dry and dead leaves fell out of the trees lining the pavement.A sudden gush of icy winds made him hunch his shoulders,and slipped his hands into his denim pockets.

"Skawwounn kwouun knwouun",he heard the distant calls of the peacock,and wondered where in the vicinity it was hiding.He knew there were many peacocks around in the university campus,but had never seen one in full view.Being a day hop,he was envious of the hostel inmates who could see them during dawn and dusk,when they come out for a stroll.He bent his neck down to pick an aim to stamp out a dry twig a few paces ahead,and after some really quick calculation,expertly adjusted his steps so that he could land his foot on the twig on his next step.He liked the the sound of breaking twigs.

As the moment of truth was imminent,something wet fell on his neck. Fearing the worst (previous experience of having been a target for bird-shit),he tentatively touched it with the tip of his index finger.He retrieved his hand and held it palm upwards for inspection.It was just water.Just as he was starting to feel relieved,a drop of water fell on his palm.

As he was turning to look up at the heavens,a smile started to lift his face,as rain drops started kissing his face.

Cont'd...

Simply Rahmantic

Was listening to Kaise Mujhe ,from Ghajini.

Wow.Simply Rahmantic!

A beautiful,soul-stirring,heart-tugging,haunting melody from Rahman.

I dont know a word of Hindi,and typical of Rahman's music,transcends the barriers imposed by language and succeeds in evoking strong emotions within me,as only his music could.I know little of the technicalities in singing,but i can say that this is an extremely,extremely difficult song to sing(Chiju na,you re the singer..what do you feel?). One of those songs that when you try to reproduce on stage,could easily go horribly wrong.One of those songs that i listen to- eyes closed,in a quiet setting-when i want to calm myself down,or when in a nostalgic mood, or when thinking about love and relationships.

On the vocals,Benny Dayal has put his heart and soul into singing this song,otherwise could not have achieved this result. Not intending to belittle Benny,but Shreya Ghosal outshines him.Shreya's voice,especially her aalap towards the middle of the song,gives me a floating-fleeing,like a breeze spreading out,caressing,gentle and soft-evokes the image of a girl embracing her Love,reassuring her Love...the sitar following this part, simply tugs at my heart.

My friend translated this stanza for me.Wow.Honest lines.

Badle raate jharne aur nadi,

Badle ret ki tim tim.

Chhede zindigi dhool koi nahin,badle barkha ki rimjhim.

Badle ngi rituen ada,

Par main rahoongi sada,usi tarah,

Teri baahon mein baahein daalke,

Har lamha,

Har pal.

The song takes time to grow on you.On first-listening,would seem like an ordinary track.But One of the best from the great man!

A.R.Rahman.God Bless.

Climactic Year

Today,July 15,is the first day of my final year of u.g study.Crucial year.Looking forward to it with promise and optimism.

asato ma sadgamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrtyorma amrtam gamaya

Lead me from the asat to the sat.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.

(Brhadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28)

p.s: Woke up quite early today,which is saying something.Almost ready to leave for college.Am told the bus will arrive 10 mins earlier at my stop this year.Sure to catch it at the stop itself today.Positive start.

Choose your side!

Driving around the city is getting more difficult with each passing day. The almost exponential increase in the number of vehicles on the road does contribute towards this fact.But the chief reason - crazy driving on the streets - some drive as though they are on their own deserted private road,without consideration for the other vehicles on the road- hate them..worst fellows.No road sense.

When you overtake,choose your side :
(in this part of the world,we keep left)

Worst are the kind who try to overtake you on the left,even after you have switched on the indicator to signal the intent to turn left. Worst of the worst,are those who overtake you on the left when you are halfway into the turn already - forcing you to hit the brakes. People,know that the driver of the car cannot always see things on their left,especially when you are speeding to his left coming outside of a blind spot,when he is taking a left turn at a junction.

At a signal junction,i was on the very left of the road, with left-turn indicators flashing,and was leaning into the turn already when a guy on a bike suddenly came into my view from the left,where i was forced the jam on the brakes.And guess what,he did not take the left but proceeded to go straight.Impossibly, he turned back and mouthed profanity at me as he sped away.As if it was my fault. Maybe thats his way of showing gratitude that he was not under my wheels.Probably got his license through bribes,if he had one in the first place.Bless him.

(Getting a driver's license here in India is one of the easiest things to do - no testing your knowledge of the fundamental road rules,and the actual driving test for a car with the r.t.o involves you switching gears and taking a turn-the condition for a fail grade is that the vehicle must not jerk to a halt)

Here are some road safety authority rules for the uninitiated.

You may overtake on the left when

• You want to go straight ahead when the driver in front of you has moved out and signalled that they intend to turn right.
• You have signalled that you intend to turn left.
• Traffic in both lanes is moving slowly and traffic in the left-hand lane is moving more quickly than the traffic in the right-hand lane.

You must not overtake when

• You are at or near a pelican crossing, zebra crossing or at pedestrian signals.
• A traffic sign or road marking prohibits it.
• You are approaching a junction.
• You are on the approach to a corner, bend, dip in the road, hump-back bridge, brow of a hill or on a narrow road.
• You are in the left-hand lane of a dual carriageway or motorway when traffic is moving at normal speed.

You may be willing to take risks and die in the process,but spare a thought for the others on road,who do not share your enthusiasm for death.

Safe driving!

Couldnt forget it

Saw the poster of kambhakt ishq on a wall today,in spite of myself.

A phrase sprung into my head.

Kambakht Ishq := Garbage Bag.

Had to let it out.

(my comments on the movie,read here)

Terror and Awe

Saturn devouring his Son - Goya(1819-23)

This painting,Saturn devouring his son,of all the Black Paintings of Goya that i saw,i'd say is the most terrifing of them all. This terrible face of Saturn gives me creeps,raided my dreams a couple of times too.The ferocity of the violence,and the force of emotion that is depicted,and the illusion,the thought of it floating out of the screen at me,sends a shiver down my spine...phew..Goya,I salute you!

A Sense of Lingering Happyness

A usual day out

1 30 pm - Vas,Kc n I - An afternoon spent bantering on music and movies - an hour of fun trashing hindi flicks - laughed till our stomachs hurt - a cup of over-sweetened coffee at K.R.Bakes -

5 30 pm -Vas,Tp n I - an hour spent on buying a pair of shoes at Woodland's for Tp- booked tickets for Transformers next night show - Drank Half a glass of hot badam milk at Agarwal's(only a mouthful infact,Tp graciously drank most of my share->typical) - checked out discount sale at Lee - walked half the stretch of D.B Road -ogled at one particular chick with rather..um..suffice to say, eye catchy features( Vas n Tp were earnest)-

8 30 pm -home- cursed rams for not hanging around - watched an hour worth of youtube videos : veyron,maybach,crash tests - the guys left at 9 30 pm -a sense of lingering happyness - bought dinner for myself n mom -half an hour of television - about to hit the bed,with the hope of hitting the gym atleast tom.11 30 pm now.Chow.Again,a sense of happyness.

p.s : This is to Tp,who s leaving on a month long All-India trip(Lucky dog!) with his class tomorrow morning,who ll be missing such days (us included!) for the coming month . Safe Journey machi!

Expectorate in Public? Damn You.

Brilliant blue sky. Cool weather. Trees rustling in the wind. Mild Traffic . Pachai Nirame on the radio.

This was the setting(perfect!). I was driving my car along the Thadagam Road in the City,and stopped as the traffic light switched to red, near Avila.In front of me, a Skoda Laura was idling. I was just beginning to admire the immaculate shine on the car when its door opened from the inside - i could see a bracelet on the hand that was resting on the door handle,gold by the looks of it,and the guy's head peeped out,and bent low towards the road. Curious,i followed his gaze - what was the guy observing on the road?

Spppllllirrcchhhhh!!

A mouthful of tobacco or pan juice was squirted right onto the road. The guy wiped his mouth with a napkin,and dropped it right there. He closed the door,the signal turned green , and the car sped away.

As if nothing happened. I was careful not to drive over it.

Grose.

I held this paradigm : People in Skoda Laura are wealthy and educated - now its changed - only a sign of wealth and not necessarily a sign of education . That guy had not an iota of Civic Sense.( cliched but popular "civic sense ah? oru kilo enna velai" stereotypes)

Evokes the memory of the image of a guy spitting from the window of a bus onto the traffic below , and the verbal duel that followed, between the guy on the bus and the rather unfortunate guy on the bike,who was passing the bus by its side. Poor guy.

Disgusting.

Its everywhere,the 'gob' - railway stations,bus stands,pavements, cut-roads - i dont understand,why arent they feeling repulsive when they do it at such public places? Plus its poses a risk of spreading disease . A spell should be cast so that for those who spit onto public property,it should fly back onto their faces. Would serve them good.

Movie Comments : Kambakkht Ishq (2009)

Starring Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor, with cameo appearances by Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards.

Saw this movie(???) yesterday in the theatres. And what do i think about it? Let me tell you.

Overall : Cheap.Dumb.Tasteless.Trash.

Script : huh? Come again.. ?

Acting : Over re-acting.

Music : Doesnt catch your attention.

Point to Note : All-time-low of my visits to the theatres.

The only scene in the movie which evoked positive emotions in me was the Stallone-thrashing-the bad-guys-scene towards the end- an ephemeral feeling as it was.This is a remake of the tamil movie starring Kamal Hassan ,Pammal.K.Sambandam(2002),which i would say was 100 times a better movie than KI. KI stands for tasteless comedy (?? - or was that the idea ? - let me quote one instance : a guy farting into the face of the bride in a song sequence? ) , a "battle of the sexes" movie ( Akshay calls Kareena a bitch,and she in turn calls him a dog ,several times in the movie) (oh..appadi!).They ought to have a provision where the audiences are given their money back.

Verdict : Dont even bother seeing this movie,unless you are doing a thesis titled "The List of all Time Bad Movies made in Hindi " .

Akshay Kumar in an interview -i'm quoting from this source - " Akshay said that Kambhakkt Ishq is a family entertainer . He is happy that it had a good opening and that the audiences are loving it " .

A family entertainer it seems . Didnt know the guy was such an imbecile.

Flora

I feel flowers have high moral values- even if they could talk,i dont think they are of the type who would lie or be dishonest ; some are quite extravagent and illimitable in the shades of colors they exhibit, i think they are an appropriate mixture of humility,dignity and pride (seldom do you find these qualities in humans who think they are very attractive) .

Where flowers bloom,so does hope. Some photographs,by my Dad :).

(who is in the field of horticulture now btb)

Passion Flower (Family Passifloraceae)

The Purple Lily

The Okra Flower ( Ladyfinger)

A rose is a rose is a rose!

No wonder they say you can write a love letter with a bouquet of flowers!

A Star to Follow

Lines from Nuovo Cinema Paradiso - Between Alfredo and Toto , as they walk by the sea -

Alfredo : You haven't seen her?

Toto : No. And no one knows where she is.

Alfredo : Probably that's how it was meant to be.We, each of us, have a star to follow.

Perhaps one of the most easy-to-say and most-difficult-to-do things in life is finding out your life's star,isnt it,that elusive little star. For some,the star is a guiding light,a beacon,a compass used to help navigate to your destination- could be a friend,a parent, a sibling,a book even- helping you on your way to your life's aim or your heart's desire. For others, reaching the star itself is the ultimate aim - the star could be a degree in a dream university, a dream job , or the love of your life. Following it becomes paramount to your existence.

Made me wonder what my star excatly is. Presently foggy,but hopefully should see with better clarity of vision the more i focus my lenses. How i wonder what you are!

Tamil cinema at its nadir

The last 10 visits to the theatres to watch tamil flicks have been,to say the least,extremely disappointing - the sorry state of tamil cinema lacking quality and merit,the brand of films being released now is absolutely pathetic - cannot even think of rivalling those yester year classics or anywhere near the horizon of being labelled a modern classic. Huh...let being called a modern classic alone,they should strive to be called as watchable first up!

These films include :

Kuruvi (started with this,setting new lows for tamil cinema,challenging others to beat this low line mark!)

Silambattam (God Forbid! Unbearble.)

Kadhalil vizlunthaen ( No,thank you.)

Padikathavan( Cant believe they still make films like these in 21st century)

Maasilamani ( sunaina was the reason i saw..better should have stuck to seeing still camera pics)

Muthirai ( the only muthirai that this movie leaves on you is the mark of stunningly bad cinema)

We can take a little heart though-there were a few that were watchable,and infact was good in parts , n even better in certain parts : Pollathavan , Vaaranam Aayiram , Abiyum Naanum , Yaavarum Nalam - easily watchable,worth one visit to the theatre.

On the whole , Hopeless.

I watched Cinema Paradiso this afternoon,and what a movie that was!! Simple,elegant,very moving piece of cinem - the name says it all. Hoping for the day that such movies are made in Tamil.

A lost cause? Lets see.

Auditory Symbolisms - Sounds of Emotion

Crash of the ocean waves

roar of a waterfall

splatter of rain

a splash of water

rumbling of thunder

creak of the wild bamboo

rustling of the leaves

cry of the morning peacock

These are , for me , auditory symbolisms for beauty and solitude.

Sounds have the power to trigger certain emotions and memories and they give rise to a stream of thoughts.They say emotions have colors. I think they have sounds associated with them as well.

Probably thats why we sing or hum when happy, laugh out 'ha ha',exclaim a 'ohw' of suprise, a 'aargh' of frustration ,a 'hmm' of thought , a 'mmm!' for a delicious recipe . These are primitive sounds,nevertheless reflect natural and powerful emotions.(ofcourse,there are the more linguistically expressive souls who use a not so natural sound for all these emotions,a little more complex sound than ohw and ah,considered unparliamentary but the most used 4 letter word-yes,you got it right).

There are sounds in nature,sounds of water for instance, that never fail to move me,to transport me to another place,the choice of place depending on the sound and its related emotion.

Movie Comments : Muthirai

Directed by : Srinath

Music : Yuvan Shankar Raja

Starring : Nitin Satya , Daniel Balaji , Lakshmi Rai , Manjari Padnis .

BottomLine : A movie you will never regret missing,or rather will definitely regret that you went to the theatres.

Suspend reason, forget that you know there is something called 'fluidity' between scenes, forgive the poor acting , for your own sake ignore the fact that all characters lack intelligence , ignore the poor sets,and most importantly, know that this is a very cliched script that you can guess the plot well before it actually unfolds - then perhaps you might think this movie is not so bad.

Background score is average overall,and at times tries hard to lift the movie with the suspense-music , but fails to evoke any thrills because the acting and the direction lets it down awfully.

But the camera work and the stills are good,so helps the film be more bearable , atleast the visual aspect. Cinematography saves some face for the team.

So here s the story,for those who are still interested (on paper its sorta good,but the execution,a pretty sloppy affair).

(Two separate stories join together jus before the intermission)

The movie starts with the political murder of the Chief Minister who s in a meeting with a senior party member and with the CM's brother. Discussion turns into an argument and on the shake of the camera the CM,his brother,the aid and a security guard all lie in a pool of blood- we later know that CM dies,his brother s in coma,the aid is shot in the arm.The brother is blamed for the shoot out. The senior leader says he doesnt care for political power and wants to serve the people as a simple party worker - having watched tamil cinema for so long , you are almost sure that he is the bad guy.Then it shifts to the second line of events.

Daniel Balaji is a tough (!) and smart(!!please) city-dwelling con who deals with high level crime,passports for instance,as is shown.Atleast this is what was expected to reach audience i'm sure - the tatoos across his upper body and his curt manner are attributes that are meant to point in that direction i guess. He has his own private apartment where he doesnt let anyone enter , and is furnished apparently of expensive items . The sets let you down-not as impressive as you would expect of a rich con with taste (or no taste! this would make better sense).

Nitin Satya is a petty thief , who introduction scene is : women with broomsticks in hand (lead by his mother )and men with sticks chase him down the streets , and several scenes to depict that he is a street smart thief (several characters appear to tell you what his crimes are). Since his cover in his village is blown, he migrates to the city. He also talks too much on screen,and if the director thought that it was in good humour,sorry it wasnt. It gets annoying after a point -only a couple of phrases in the entire length of the movie manages to bring a smile.

As expected they come across each other - in a pub (again poor sets) - here s a song starring Rakhi sawant with her crass glamour - The passports Daniel has spills out from his pocket,and there you go you have a pub-shattering fight with the security guards there,and Nitin saves him from a guard who comes to stab Daniel - they become bestu friends - Daniel takes him to his apartment and you would almost say they are romancing seeing the doting scenes that follow - Nitin coming from village doesnt know to use the gadgets and Daniel hittin his head evertime for his silly errands (for instance he doesnt know the difference between body spray and room spray).

Next are the love interests - Lakshmi Rai for Daniel and Manjari Padnis (Meghna Character from Jaane tu ya jaane na) paired with Nitin Satya. Manjari plays the pretty-girl-with-absolutely-no-brains character(her dream guy is someone from the CBI or the military), i mean who believes a guy who says he s from the CBI when he s caught sneaking in a womens college (he says he s come to catch a guy who plans to plant a bomb in the campus) and she believes him , and voila , love bug has bit both of them - and there you have a duet.

The movie has several such incidents,and even i'm bored of typing for so long- so i ll cut it short - the songs slam the breaks on the flow of the movie - the 2 couples are caught up in the murder trail of the CM - they come into possession of a laptop which has video evidence of the murder- (the hidden cam can zoom and turn and focus on faces from all angles..the starting scene is played frame by frame in the video ( dei...yosikave maatingalada??)) - police chase them - they run away - bad guys catch up with them - fight - duet after fight sequence (come on,hero wud like hot romance after every bad guy gang they beat up right) - they blackmail bad guy - bad guy tries to double cross - but clever hero double crosses the double crosser - police catches the bad guy - justice is done -...phew.

I went to this movie,because i had nothing to do that evening.

Could have slept at home.

Thanjavur-Kumbakonam Trip!

The trip to Thanjavur and to several towns in its vicinity opened my eyes to a world different to that of Coimbatore - I had thought previously,before the trip,that not much would be different there in terms of lifestyle of the people, the city , or the way in which normal everyday people talk and behave towards others - turned out that i was wrong.

And i liked only one thing in the city - the ancient temples.

Not the dirty streets , not the half cooked idly , not the disrespectful tone of the hotel servers and the auto n taxi drivers , not the graffiti on the heritage sites , not the over crowded buses , not the garbage strewn bus stand with people affected with leprosy or elephantiasis lying around, not the suffocatingly hot weather , and not the transport facilities (the bus took two and half hours to travel 55 kms), not the bumpy roads.

Another thing which was so depressing to notice was that flooring in the inner areas of the 2000-yr old temples have now been overlaid with mosaic or marbles! The sanctity seems lost, with something so misfitting to be seen at such places..disgrace to the temple architecture..upon the name of renovation i'd say they are spoiling the beauty of the temple.They ought to have stuck with the tradition and used the black stones. I asked the priests there why such a measure has been taken ,and they blame the government for it. One can take a little heart seeing that the inner sanctum sanctorium has been left untouched.

Some photographs.

The Thanjore Palace.

Thanjore Skyline- View from the palace tower.

WatchTower

Ithu Namma Ooru- Makkal Thirunthave maataangala - God save us-Inside the palace.

Shiva's Cosmic Dance - Surrounded by a ring of flame,killing the demon of ignorance and darkness - 10th century Bronze statuette - Each civilization has its own version of depicting God,here the Cholas chose the image of Shiva's dance - now become the symbol of south indian culture - Majestic isnt!

Brihadeeshwar Temple Elephant

The Idly at gowri shankar where the rice batter was gouged out.

The little molluscan takin a stroll on the karaikal beach.

An image unique to India.

No sun shades at the bus stop.

A Poignant Picture - there s something in this picture that moves me..

A little bit of history.

Thanjavur,or Tanjore, is one of the ancient cities in India with a history of 2500 years - now known by repute as the 'Rice Bowl of TamilNadu' , for its vast cultivation of rice as the area is best suited for it,being near the Cauvery deltaic region,one of the most fertile lands in India.It is also famous for its numerous temples , most importantly the Brihadeeshwar Temple (Thanjai Peria Kovil,built 985 A.D),a world heritage site.Thanjavur,once the seat of Tamil tradition and culture , the place where literture, music, dance,sculpting and painting flourished under the Chola rule.

Just as the age of the Guptas shaped the Indian Civilization in the north in the middle ages, in the south another great civilization arose to prominence ,and created an empire that would rule across southern India and the islands of the indian ocean- The Cholas (300 BC-1300 AD) -who ruled from their capital city of Thanjavur,the city which still stands.

The Cholas were at the height of their power from the later half of the 9th century till the beginning of the 13th centuries.Under Rajendra Chola I and his son Rajendra Chola I, the dynasty became a military, economic and cultural power in Asia,with Chola territories stretching from the islands of the Maldives in the south to as far north as the banks of the Godavari river in the north. Rajaraja Chola conquered peninsular South India, annexed parts of SriLanka (Ilam) ,occupied the islands of the Maldives. Chola sent a victorious expedition to North India that touched the river Ganges defeated the ruler of Pataliputra. He also successfully invaded kingdoms of the Malay Archipelago.Click here to read more on the Chola dynasty.

Present Thajavur can be a lot better than how it is now. How nice it would be to see a city flooded with the classical arts ,followed by the comman people , cutting across all classes , a city filled with educated people who, least of all , know how to keep their rich city clean!