Slices of south - South of Nowhere

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Deepavali to Diwali - the journey of a festival in bart eye's view...

Adhu oru kana kaalam… No, I am not referring to the Balu Mahendra’s movie that is in trouble.. I am referring to the childhood days during celebration of diwali, sorry, deepavali (used to call the festive Deepavali earlier which has now shrunk to the north indian way, Diwali).

In school days, it used to the be the crackers that was the most exciting part of the festive. The person who had the privilege to burst the heavy-weight crackers like hydrogen bomb, atom bomb, double-shot and anything above used to be looked at in awe and respect. Next would the person who had the fun of lighting the 500 wala or 1000 wala – the higher the number, the more the admiration. The lesser mortals had to be satisfied with their "red-and-white" efforts in lighting the “Lakshmi vedi”s and “Bijli”s in hand and bursting them in air. If you are a seasoned practitioner, then bursting of Bijlis sitting in a place, talking to someone would look similar to cracking the shell of peanuts, popping the nut in air and catching them without fail in your mouth. Coming to off-beat attempts, there would be dare-devil acts like holding a “thara chakkaram” (zameen chakram) in Kambi Mathappu’s kambi (rod). If you are lucky, it might rotate for a while else it might burst right at your hand making you have a “chakkar” and fall in zameen. There might be innovative ways of bursting “vedi”s.. Tying two or more together, keeping a vedi in a burnt-out flowerpot with medicine (phosphorous) at the bottom and so on.. All these innovations and many more would culminate finally in the final bussss…. In this act, the medicines (stuff inside the crackers) of all the invalids (those not in a position to be cracked directly) would be collected in a paper and spread across. Light a corner of the paper and see the fire zip-zapping across..zzzooom... The homely, family cracker bursting like kambi mathappu, saattai, flower-pots etc are not mentioned here in detail as they are meant for kiddos J .. Yes, wannabe Abdul Kalams and wannabe Nasa scientists do their experiments with rocket by shifting their initial position, guiding their trajactory towards the terrace of the girl’s houses in the street, whom they are eyeing at. If they manage to get the girl out of their house, they may try doing some dare-devil, “Pattasu veeran” stuff to woo their dream girl.. Early morning (at 4 am, which deviated and tended towards the sleeping time from the wake-up time in later years) Oil Baths, sweet distribution in the neighbourhood and at relatives’, showing off the new dress (managing to keep them new without damage during the festive was a great skill) were part of the ritual… Sweet distribution mentioned above meant that you would also be reciprocated with sweets from the receiving party. So, there was a mini home-made Adayar Ananda Bhavan-Sri Krishna Sweets combo in everyone’s place… If possible, a first-day-show of a deepavali major was part of the menu. Atleast an attempt at the ticket counters.. But then as I started, “adhu oru kana kaalam”….

Then came to the houses, the TV.. Special programmes came in.. Movie stars, wannabe movie stars, yester year stars, future stars, sons, daughters, parents and any “i-know-him” of the movie stars all came to your halls on the special occasion… They talked about the new releases, past releases, future releases (not just in terms of movies ;) ).. Ofcourse, they also talked about the must-know of the human society – that is, how they celebrate Diwali (the change began here).. First these were for a day on the festive. Then it got extended to the day before also.. Special movies on the occasion meant the lesser movies released opened to half-theatres.. If the festival could accommodate around 10+ releases earlier, it boiled down to lower-half of single digits later.. The crackers do not excite anymore (that could be owing to aging ;) ), the new clothes do not rejuvenate you, the sweet varieties made at home dropping, the distribution act trickling down.. The early morning wake-ups are tending towards 6 am or later.. The get-togethers and the joy of sharing (through sounds, sweets and otherwise) reducing, educing, ducing, ucing, cing, ing …

Hmm.. Let the idiot box ‘naragasuran’ be annihilated during this eve.... I wish it were deepavalis again and not diwalis….

Monday, October 24, 2005

Hello Life in recursive loop ...

My bachelor-degree (took that 7 yrs back) class-topper, jolna bag (a typical south indian bag carried typically by yester-year journalists), soda putti (heavy glasses), pazham (fruit J), close friend, got his Ph.D. defense cleared at NUS, Singapore, last Friday…

Andha naal nyabagam nenjile vandhadhe, nanbane, nanbane, nanbane..

Hmm.. Yearning to put my life until bachelor degree in a recursive loop…

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

This train is off the track...

Read Nimish Adani’s latest on his blogsite. Going by what Adani chronicles, he seems to have walked into the simple trap set straight on his way! The so-called final justice seems to fifty-fifty! I would rather say it is 20-80 in favour of railway officials.

The basis of Nimish’s case has been coolly swept under the carpet saying that he was inebriated and ticket machine did not work. Also the DRM (Divisional Railway Manager) goes on to say that the suspension of railway officials was only for their reciprocal action against Nimish.. Comeon, I am sucking my right thumb with my left hand folded now…

A person who took a case so rightfully up against the mighty government officials, finally gave into sweet-talk and sweet flavored milk. The countless behind him in the cause only to be let down claiming a poetic injustice! Nimish, can you notice that your stance has been gradually favoring the opponents as your chronicle progresses… Yet another case of wasted vigor and fury... The history books will go on to show the wronged as wrong and mights as right!

When are things gonna be treated black and white? Why not the railway officials and for that matter southern railways come out on records as culprits? Why not Nimish again take a legal stance against what has been published – a defamatory case?

Why? When? How? … and countless questions go on…

Monday, October 17, 2005

When an underdog wins...

In “David Vs Goliath”, had Goliath won, I wouldn’t have been talking about it now. It was and is David, the underdog, that we desire to win, in the innermost caves of our hearts. So, whenever we find an underdog fighting a big opponent, our heart goes out waving cheerflags for him/her. We saw it recently in Gaurav Sabnis case but no, this is not about him.

In Indian cricket, it is normal to find that certain states like Kerala and Orissa do not have a strong history of representations in the national team. There might have been an odd SS Das or Abey Kuruvilla who have represented these states. There might been a few “potential”s like Ananthapadmanabhan, who were always in the reckoning for god knows how many years, but still never could make it. But it is heartening to note that sometimes bright talents are awarded, righly so. Yes, the newest entry into the national team, Sreesanth, deserves a loud applause for grabbing the cap with both hands. In the recently concluded Challenger trophy, this lad from Kerala stood out among the pacers, paces ahead of the Irfans, Agarkars and Zaheers that we’ve been supporting in recent years. To quote an instance, in the final game, the Senior team was walking smooth towards a thumping victory against an insipid batting display by the opponents, India B. This man, representing the B-team, didn’t believe that they could walk away so easily. He was given the ball and he came out with his heart bursting in front of him sneered two wickets with his sheer energy. The seniors were six down and finally had 1 run to win. But Sreesanth thought that 1 could be made tougher. He came out with a splendid yorker castling the wickets of a senior team batsman who had just walked in to nudge off the single. An underdog had won then – not the match but in attitude. The “never say die” attitude won him the “Man of the series” and now a place in the big league.

We are waiting to see much more from you, Sreesanth. Let your attitude infect the team.. Hopes come in sparks and you are the spark we are pinning our hopes upon….

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Ore Oru oorukkulla - Sentiment rules...

Hear “Ore oru oorukkulla” from Cheran’s next – “Thavamai Thavamirundhu”. A song that refuses to move away, offlate. The lyrics are put in this week’s Anandha Vikatan. However, I heard the song even before. Its very difficult to believe that a song that is so simple and to cap it off, sung by Sabesh (Devaa’s brother with a similar voice) can linger so long in your heart. Help, but I cannot refuse to appreciate the earthiness that comes with Sabesh's voice. Actually, I would even say it enhances the song quality. Overall, rhythmic tune, simple orchestration, touching lyrics – a sure winner for years to come..

Going by the songs and the news indicators, this movie seems to be a better “Autograph” for Cheran. Thanks for another beautiful song again, Cheran...

Monday, October 10, 2005

Just Blog It - Way to go...

A few observations on a couple of interesting blog events / incidents in the recent past:

ü       First of all about the e-revolution… An email Titled “Brutalities in Bangalore” took the city by storm and the effort has paid off. It is nice to observe that an email can be used as a weapon to create some answers to questions that go unanswered otherwise. The e-community support has to be noted here. As an icing on the cake, it is even more happy to see a blogsite popping up as a by-product authored by the affected person… Right or wrong, long live blogspots and the e-community. Make way for the e-revolution…

ü       Next is on another blogger who had his blog since long and hence the incident.. Gaurav Sabnis was a regular, routine employee of IBM until this happened. After the posting, IIPM came out with crappy legal notice and our blog hero poo poohed it. As a followup, like a kid-who-wets-his-pants, the insti threatened IBM below the belt. And the hero came out on tops – he resigned! Gaurav, you’ve shown the way for blogging community.. Standing up for the freedom.. I salute…           

 

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Newsmuse - Dalmiya and Cricket...

"He is invariably at a loss for words when he talks about cricket because he just doesn't know a thing about the game. No wonder, he pronounces it as `kirkit' or `krikate' and fortunately he doesn't have to spell it."

- Former Indian board chairman Raj Singh Dungarpur on his great mate Jagmohan Dalmiya

Source: Cricinfo

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Vazhi tharum Vinayagar!


If the subject looked like some bhakthi movie title, I would like to clarify that itz actually about the traffic menace at Bangalore

Whenever you go to a hill station in TamilNadu, you would find that invariably at the bottom of the hillstation, by the side of the road, you would find a Vinayagar temple named “Vazhi vidum Vinayagar” (The vinayaga, who shows the way ahead..). All the road commuters by foot or motor, would throw coins at the temple praying for a safe journey uphill (& maybe something alongwith that also ;) )…

In Bangalore, the hosur road traffic is something which every IT chief worth his salt would have discussed with the then existing chief minister of Karnataka. But then, as it happens in all IT companies, “talks” and “meetings” are something that are used fill up some significant portion of working hours, wherein the individuals involved can move out of it having a satisfaction of something worthwhile to fill in their timesheets for the day.. .Nothing really happens beyond that! So I hereby am putting forth a divine proposal as a solution to this problem. If every corner turns out to be a deadend, what other way is there than to look up. I propose that we can build a “Vazhi tharum Vinayagar” (Vinayaga who gives the way ahead) temple at the electronic city-hosur road junction where in every commuter along the hosur road can throw paisas, rupees and probably dollars (for onsite returns) at the God asking for a peaceful way head. There can also be a swipe-in system for credit card addicts… Now vinayaka probably would ensure lesser traffic, easier clearance at signals and ensure that every one reaches his destination in tolerable time limits…

If you are an atheist, then probably you can atleast contribute to Vinayaka for the reason that the money collected (am sure there would be ‘heavy’ participation from the frustrated geeks ensuring a collection comparable to thirupathi) be used for building better signal systems, faster completion of unfinished fly-overs and in general towards improvement of infrastructure. This is a “Run-away” success idea… Any takers?

On an extension of the idea, there could be a website too for “e-vazhi tharum vinayagar”, for web traffic issues.. If there one already existing, do let me know!