The Raanjhanaa conundrum

A lot of discussion in the media and social circles today is about how Raanjhanaa, which is a stalker-glorifying movie denouncing women, turned out to be such a blockbuster, and how all of this is being lapped up happily by the audiences, questioning the sensibilities of everyone involved with that movie and those who have gone around hailing the film and the performers in it. For one, I've found it plain stupid as to how people can twist what they view in a film, to argue against the filmmaker and those involved with the film. We saw that with Vishwaroopam, where Afghan terrorists being portrayed as Muslims was the problem which was responsible for keeping the film away from screening in Tamil Nadu for like 2 weeks. Yeah right, we could have Jews mascquerading in burqas in Afghanistan, committing terror acts and then their "masks" being torn in the climax. Now people have a problem with Dhanush following Sonam Kapoor along the streets of Baranasi and slitting his wrists whenever he feels like getting Sonam Kapoor to do something for him which she doesn't want to.

Firstly, I've always believed that there are two extremes of films in the world. One, those who show things as they are, and two, those who show things as they would like them to be. The latter encompasses everything from fantasy, commercial cinema, and even animation film, while the former comprises of art-house cinema. But on an average, every film has a mix of both, some sort of a linear combination of both styles of film making. Ones that maintain a balance between the two turn out to become the extraordinary filmmakers, one from Indian cinema who has done the same and I've admired is Mani Ratnam, who is an exponent of this
"mixture" cinema as I'd like to call it. Now, why I'm talking about all this is, people don't realize that Raanjhanaa is something that belongs much closer to the first brand of cinema than the second.

For those who talk about glorifying stalking, the film does NOT glorify stalking at any point of time. In fact the title justification comes in the second half, when the guy realizes the extent of loss experienced due to the shit he has put the girl through, and then sincerely tries to become a better person. In fact, I'd call the first half depiction of Dhanush even stereotypical. It is a depiction of people in rural India. In areas where people go to the extent of honour killings, fearing which girls don't toe the line, and guys pursue them persistently until they aren't given with a choice but to accept their feelings for that guy, is how life in rural India is. I'm not saying that's right, all I'm saying is that's how people are, and it's unfair to pin the director down for portraying his lead protagonist in such a manner. If someone sitting in a posh apartment in Versova or Bandra thinks Aanand.L.Rai's portrayal of the sexes in rural Raanjhanaa is insulting, they can shove their opinions up their own asses, because while the portrayal may be something you don't like, it most definitely is accurate (Oh, and you can ask me how I know, well, I've seen such characters in my experiences with rural India).

I think many people have a problem with the fact that towards the end of the film, Dhanush becomes "the Raanjhanaa", he defines purity in love, in spite of having been the guy who regularly stalked Sonam throughout the first 40 minutes of the film. Ironical, considering these people who have decided to discard almost everything we've been brought up with, have decided to keep one of those tenets we grew up with, which is that to tit-for-tat. How can someone with such a terrible history, go on to become one who defines rural love eventually, isn't it unfair? How on earth can we give someone the chance to become good, after all once bad, he is supposed to be always bad, right? How can we shove under the carpet all his stalking and wrist slitting crimes in the name of sensibilities, in spite of the city-grown girl hanging out with him, using him for her benefits and giving him the ultimate friendzone hug at every available opportunity,  telling him that she isn't interested in him? Why can't people just watch a movie for what it is, rather than try to over-analyze without even understanding the various emotional dynamics at play in the film? The film is a wonderful musical, with A.R.Rahman's music and Dhanush's acting making you want to watch it a multiple times for the sheer delight on watching them together, and I sincerely believe that those of you who haven't watched the film, and have gone around sharing various articles on the blogosphere about how the movie is a pile of shit should go and watch the film in the theatres and enjoy it.

From an outsider's eyes

One thing I realized over the last month is that, how much so ever you try to downplay the emotions at a juncture of your life where a drastic change is about to happen, you can't really avoid it when it hits you. I've been trying to be all cool about end of college and all that, but when you enter college as technically an alumnus, it hits you hard. It's hardly been a week since I formally vacated insti, but when I walked in today, my hostel room was locked by the hostel management, the place where we usually play cricket was occupied by a different gang, Prasad and Sudharshan had vacated their rooms, Malliks was vacating in a week, the department was empty, the feeling was plain ominous.

I still remember my first day in insti. That started off with orientation at SAC, followed by lunch at SGR(vegetarian mess which once existed in Ganga hostel) with those who would become my best friends over the next four years. That night, the first night I spent in insti, I walked away from the mess towards the side road connecting Ganga and Pampa, I even remembered the song that was on the radio, it was Chinnamma Chilakkamma (the ARR song from Meenaxi which was rehashed into the Tamil film Sakkarakatti), and I walked upto my room in the second floor of Pampa hostel, and put the lights off at 9am. It wasn't because I was tired, it was because I was terrified of staying at this new place, with all alien faces, and obviously the fears that had been spread around about ragging sessions.

What followed was a roller-coaster of five years. The next couple of days are obviously hazy, considering its been five years, but then it contained our first CCD trip, our discovery of the route from hostel zone to CRC via the HSB, where we were then allowed to push cycles through the side of CLT, our first ragging sessions, naming sessions, first cricket practice and a lot of other stuff. Something which I think must be true with not only me, but with everyone else is that though our experiences across five years were a lot, our experiences in our first year must've been a huge learning curve. A lot of things I saw in my first year, just blew me away. For someone who was extremely attached to his school, and was very hesitant about the first few days in college, I was in love with the place at the end of my first year.

A lot of memorable events happened across my five years at IITM, people came, people went, there were people who got close, there were the back-stabbers, there were the ones who fought and then apologized, there were the ones who fought and then just backslapped like nothing happened, there were the ones who were doing some fantastic work, there were the ones  who were killing time, there was the first love and the rejection, there was the first short film, and the second, and the third, and the fourth too, there were the people whose importance I realized very late in my five years that I would wish to spend an extra couple of years so that they got the importance they deserved from me, there were the people whose memories with me are reminders of the fact that I shouldn't really let myself get screwed up just because someone else isn't happy with the way I am, there was this, there was that, there was a lot! If I had to objectively rate my years at IITM, my fifth year was the best, understandably so since responsibilities are much lesser in your final year. There are just too many stuff coming to mind that my clear mind is now just a muddled collage of too many over-sized images. Like below. There is unfinished business of stuff I started in IITM, things I hope I will be able to finish successfully, or maybe not, but I'll be ever thankful to IITM for everything it gave me.

Worthy of a dedication..

As a filmmaker (with four short films under my belt, I hope I can call myself one now), a lot of what you've watched and gotten influenced by goes inadvertently into your script. For someone bred on Tamil films like me, references to people like K.Balachander and Mani Ratnam are inevitable. I was watching Nayakan on a local Tamil channel today, and it reminded me of why I love the film so much.

My first brush with the film was discussing it with Shreyas over one of our million late night conversations in class 12. Each discussion made me watch the film more closely, and it was one of those days when KTV used to play Nayakan more regularly, so that really wasn't a problem. The movie is one of those sheer genius moments, one of those times when everything comes right, the right director making a movie after his first big break, the right actor, someone who was slowly making his mark as arguably the best in the country, the right music, to say Raja peaked at around this time is no understatement though Raja's peak was more a plateau, he stayed there for really long, everything just seemed to be right about the film. The dialogues were crisp, the earliest view of the genius that was Mani Ratnam.

There are moments in this film that can just blow you away. There is this scene, where this old lady Anjamma burns herself to save Velu Nayakan. The scene following that has him going to the hospital. The lady is dying, her husband is crying. Velu Nayakan tries to console him, and then his action goes from one of "God will take care", to then realizing in a split second that she is beyond the stage where she can be saved, and then goes to an action of "What can I do?", and he breaks down. Mind-blowing stuff. Also, the scene following this is a gem. He tells Selvam (Janagaraj), his oldest friend, that he needs to surrender, or else his life of 30 years will become pointless. Selvam tries persuading "Nayakar" into not surrendering, and when he doesn't listen, Selvam makes the last-ditch attempt, calling him, like 30 years earlier, with a "Velu". He doesn't listen is another story, but the man has given his everything to detail.

Kamal Hassan gives the film the role of his life. I have truly believed that the man works better as a plain actor, he just overdoes it in films where the screenplay/script credits are his. Even in Hey Ram, which is by the way, one of my favorite Kamal films, I think he overdoes it as an actor. But, the man's performances in films such as Pathinaaru Vayathile, Moondram Pirai, Nayakan, Indian, and the 27 odd KB films he's done, are exemplary. I think the role in Nayakan takes the cake,  every scene is a lesson in acting. He smiles at the right moments, cries at the right moments, and he doesn't keep one foot wrong. He starts off the film with a "Thevidiya Payya", and ends it with an "Aandava" (this is actually just the Kamal lines, the character Shaktivelu Nayakan starts off speaking to his father) , the true journey of the man, and the journey is not just in words, but in true blue actions.

For every landmark film, there have to be the moments which define it. I think universally any fan of the film would acknowledge the fact that this movie is defined by two things. "Then paandi cheemayile" defines the movie, the music for the period, and is an alias for anything even remotely pathos even today. The song repeats throughout the film, in various situations, and brings a lump to the viewers' throats each time it plays. To even think that Raja sir had another tune in mind initially (the Nila Adhu Vaanathu Mele in slow-mo) doesn't make sense today, after so many viewings of the film. The second moment defining the film is "Neenga nallavara kettavara". As Baradwaj Rangan calls it in his "Conversations with Mani Ratnam", Mani has this obsession with the "Nallavan vs Kettavan conundrum", and this was the first, and easily the best exemplification of the same. The masterstroke was in making a child ask the question, because if anyone could question Velu Nayakan, it was unadulterated innocence.

This is a movie which when talked about, one can't really do much justice, but this is just something that came to my head and I rambled off. And to sum the film up, "Naalu perukku nalladhu naa, edhuvume thappu illa"! :)

The sun will rise, again!

My trip to Japan has been a majorly eventful one. I've visited three east Asian countries, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan, but Japan has definitely been the most alien. One reason for that could be the fact that Japan is quite disconnected from the Indian subcontinent, and in spite of a long history of foreign relations with India, the influence of India on Japanese culture has been a bare minimum. The motive behind my visit, along with 5 other delegates from IIT Madras, and 57 other students from other IITs and IIITs, was to observe the disaster affected areas in Japan, a programme organized and sponsored by the governments of India and Japan, as part of the Kizuna Bond Project, which is aimed at strengthening youth relations between the two countries.

The people here have been a delight to meet. It is not everyday that you meet people who greet you smiling almost always. I'm sure it does help being a foreigner, even a foreigner visiting India would be bestowed with a great deal of hospitality, but the Japanese take hospitality to a totally different level. As much as the Japanese are extremely nice to their guests, they are also  a very diplomatic people, making them a unique combination. They are also sticklers for time, and if there is something that can perturb them, it is not sticking to or even lack of a schedule. They are an extremely hard-working group of people, something that has been observed a lot of times in the past as well, so much that it is no surprise that for a country that has always been hit by disasters, natural as in the March 2011 Tsunami, or the 1993 Kobe earthquake, or man-made, as in the Hiroshima Nagasaki twin-blasts, the country has not only survived, but also worked each time to climb up to the GDP charts in the world.

As someone who had no idea about the magnitude of the March 2011 Tsunami, what we saw here came down as a huge shock. The 9.0 scale recorded on the Ritcher doesn't really tell the complete story, since though this was the second biggest earthquake recorded in all time, the Japanese were well equipped by then to deal with it. What really devastated the people was the tsunami, which claimed 94% of the lives to drowning. You may view some crazy footage of the tsunami here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQfdl7y-blE. This is not a story of some random disaster which happened though. Disasters do happen. But this is the story of a country that rebuilds like none other in the face of disaster.

The Japanese realized very early that they are a country sitting on a volcano, earthquakes are like cramps here, they happen every once in a while. Maybe its due to the fact that they are so well prepared for disasters, fate decides to hand over to them those disasters which other countries would virtually be vanquished by. Cribbing apart, Japan has learnt to fight their disasters with a smile. A large part of my trip was spent in the town of Minami Sanriku, where all businesses were damaged in the tsunami. Nearly 10% of the town lost their lives, another 20% migrated out in search of a livelihood. In effect, the small and beautiful town, was demolished. It was a war waged by the sea. But the survivors were not going to cow easily.

People, irrespective of their losses, decided to fight their adversities head on. The tsunami destroyed livelihoods, they started off with a little help from the government, setting up businesses in their temporary shelters. The entire market of the town was reduced to these two buildings, but they strategically placed chose their target audience. Tourism was Minami Sanriku's biggest income, and it decided to work on it again. Though the markets were lost, the sea couldn't take the sun away from it. With its scenic locales, the rising sun at Minami Sanriku makes for one of the best sights in the country. They also started making their own relief funds. Advertising their slogan "Gambare Minami Sanriku" which means "Work Hard Minami Sanriku", they built themselves, and made the slowly developing industry up north of Japan famous across the countries, in the effort to rebuild their tourism industry. The impact of the disaster has been such that two years down the line, there is a lot of debris still to be cleared, but the town's tourism has almost reached the levels that existed before the disaster. What must be factored in here, is the fact that post the Fukushima nuclear leakage, various tourists, in particular foreign tourists, have been extremely apprehensive about coming to Japan, and anywhere close to the disaster areas, and places like Minami Sanriku, which fall under safe zones have been heavily disadvantaged because of this.

The most inspiring part of this trip has been the stories of two heroes. The first is Mr. Taka Hasi of the Takamasi co. at Onegawa, Miyagi prefecture, Japan. Takamasi co. was started by Mr Taka Hasi's grandfather, a company specializing in the fish cakes the Japanese call Komabako. Mr. Taka Hasi was working in the factory on the afternoon of the 11th of March, 2011, as on any other day. Little did he know that the waves were rampaging the city. As soon as he got news of the tsunami warning, he decided to not ship his fishcakes for the day, a decision that lost him  20 million yen, but saved the lives of those working for him. Also, he lost his grandfather to the tsunami, and his grandmother soon after. His company was shut down, and the town of Onegawa was reduced to nearly 60% of its initial population, with no businesses to support the town anymore. This was when Mr. Taka Hasi decided to start production again, to provide jobs to people. This would mean he would run his factory on debts, something that would be disastrous for his business. He has already borrowed upto the tune 180 billion yen, a debt he estimates he would spend his whole life repaying. In any case, he is unperturbed as this provides jobs to the people of the town. He calls this concept "social business", something that might not be profitable to him, but extremely profitable for the society as a whole. His efforts were hailed by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Younus (the founder of Grameen Bank), who paved a way for him expand his business to Bangladesh and Myanmar. The man says "I would die in my homeland, rather than abandon it for survival". Might sound unpractical, but he is making a difference to an entire town, a true hero!

Another inspiring person is a lady from the tsunami warning alert team in Minami Sanriku who stood up on the disaster management building directing people on radios on routes to escape the waves, eventually losing her life to the waves as she coldn't escape the waves in time. Her sacrifice is held in great stead here, and it is said she saved upto 700 lives. On further probing, we were able to find many many stories of people who brought out the hero in them in the face of adversity. People who would die a proud death, rather than live a selfish life. Whether it is worth it or not is objective, but the truth is there are hundreds who owe their lives to these few. A trip that has been so much fun for me, has also brought out the human side in me, and made me realize that every day of our lives is unpredictable, and it is of utmost importance, to live a life that we could be proud of having lived, something that will be remembered for long, than living a small, insignificant one. It is true that in the land of the rising sun, the sun shall rise again! Finally, below is a song I wrote for the people of Japan in general, and MinamiSanriku in particular, set to tune with Jacob Alex, and performed by the team of Kizuna Bond Project at Minami Sanriku today afternoon. It is set to be performed at Tokyo once again on the day after tomorrow. I will upload a video of one of the performances when I get it.

Gam Bare Minami Sanriku

A dove that decides to fly high,
The spirit of humans looks upto the sky,
A branch of olives, a flag of white,
Nature's fury, with smiles we fight.

Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,  (What a wonderful time we had together)
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,  (What a wonderful time we had together)
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,  (What a wonderful time we had together)
Kizuna Kizuna, Arigato Gozaimzu. (Thank you for the strong friendships made)

We will remember your losses for long,
We know that it will make you strong,
Travelling across seas, a thousand miles,
The pain vanishes, the sight of your smiles.

Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,
Kizuna Kizuna, Nante Subarashi,
Kizuna Kizuna, Arigato Gozaimzu.

We hope that you will give up never,
A quality that will last forever,
To spread happiness, always seagulls flew,
The world is with,
Gambare Vasurenai,
Gambare Vasurenai,
Minamisanriku,
Minamisanriku.

My 2012

Okay, so I AM writing this review. Which means, I did not die on the 21st of December, and since your reading this, in all probablity, you are alive too! :P

January - This was the start of the year the world was predicted to end in. Saarang was insane, and as usual, heaven could wait. Vishal-Shekar's show was out of the world. Devi Sri Prasad's show was very unprofessional, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, though many friends of mine came out very unsatisfied. As always, January otherwise was very uneventful, except for the Saarang experience.

February -  This year truly was the year of concerts! I attended Yuvan Shankar Raja's concert with my friends Rakesh, Nishaanth, Prabhu Dhev, Hari and co, in February, and what a blast we had! Arguably the best concert I went to this year. I took my first baby step towards the future, I wrote GRE in February, and it went off pretty decently as well. This was also the month I had my first thigh sprain, something that kept happening through out the year.

March - This was the month of fighting my own leg. Vasuki got an admit into every univ she applied to, and also made a mini-trip of California to pick and choose univs. Shailu got into UIUC, while CJR made Purdue, Baby got MIT, Rak got Stan and good news started pouring in. Shre got RPI at around the same time. It was a happy time, one of the periods of my life I wouldn't ever forget. It was so filled with nostalgia as everything drew to a close.

April - This was the period when I started shooting my first talkie short film. It was a long process, I really didn't expect a 7 minute film to take nearly a month and a half to shoot. But I totally fell in love with the process. The editing was a bit of a flop, but there was that obvious satisfaction of having done something I wanted to do for a long long time. It was also the last month in insti with all my friends, there was a lot of Satyam cinemas, and a lot of treats. The best month of the year I guess.

May, June - Two months of a vetti summer. I had to go to insti everyday to sign the DD form, like a prisoner out on parole. This birthday involved cutting a cake in insti for the first time. The gifts I got were unimaginable, right across the spectrum, from sloka CDs to sex books! :D The first real work for the DDP started getting done! There was Ram's anna's wedding which was so much of fun, and also Ganapathi Agraharam's kumbabhishekam, and the opportunity to watch it from right next to the kumbha! Gymming began, and though I don't have much to show for it, it's something I've totally enjoyed!

July - This was when holidays were starting to get boring, and I was also beginning to dread the fact that my friends would be leaving Chennai real soon. I wrote TOEFL, a couple of weeks after an initial failed attempt to complete the test due to some power failure, and after a lot of talking to the central officials at ETS. There was the Shankaracharya of Sringeri who camped near our place, and we made it a point to visit him everyday for the following 3 months. Convocation happened, and at the alumni induction meet that followed, my short film was adjudged second-best! The highlight of the month however was the fact that we made a trip to Thailand. The place was insane, especially their beaches, and the water sports. I went para-gliding for the first time, and man, what an experience it turned out to be. :-)

August - This was insti-reopening time. Old friends started moving to the US, and to jobs in Bangalore, Mumbai and other places. I started hanging out with a new gang of friends including Siddharth, my ex-room neighbour, Bhargava, Sudharshan, NPS and Numaan. It's been real fun with them so far. We sat up chatting till 4 on Prasad's bday, and replicated that at my place on a weekend when my mom was away. Life had suddenly become so much more fun!

September - Hari, Prasad, Nishaanth and I attended a Raja sir concert. There has been this huge wave of Raja sir craze on me this year, and this concert came in at just about the right time for me. I got to touch his hand at the end of the concert, and that made my day! September was also when I started jogging actively. It's been a wonderful thing to do, running first thing in the morning. Though overdoing it a bit has brought me back to the psysio's table!

October, November - The months of placement tests. At some point of time, the whole process can get irritating. The month was pretty dormant, except for these tests and classes, which were anyway few in number. It helped to have a lot of friends around, there was a lot of mutual confidence boosting, something that kept us from worrying during this period.

December - The big month was here. Placements began. Day one got screwed up. I got placed on day 2 though. I must thank Shruthy and Siddharth for their support during the placement process. While the former constantly kept tabs on me and kept taking my mind away from the topic of placements, the latter, usually considered uninvolved in matters, kept walking up to my room every ten minutes to talk about what I should do, and how I shouldn't take matters too seriously. I'm glad they got placed real soon too. It's been fun pretty much after that. It's been a wonderful December, apps completion, lots of eating out, Sivaji 3D FDFS and having fun. Rahman concert awaits, and so does the India-Pakistan match at Chennai (for which I really hope I'll get tickets)! So, lots more fun awaits before 2012 ends! :DI hope it just ends that way, and everyone has a great 2013 as well!

Well, this year's review was short, and I thought I should go back to the age-old format of writing like a kid
. Thanks to everyone who has been instrumental in taking me forward this year! Wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy, great new year! :-)

My superstar!

"Ivan Karpooram madhiri, ezhai koluthinaalum, panakkaran koluthinaalum orey madhiri thaan erivaan" - Lakshmi in Padayappa (1999)

I wanted to write something on 12.12.12, for it is my thalaivar's birthday, and I didn't know what to write about. So I thought I shall randomly babble about whatever comes to my mind. Well, today I managed to watch a thalaivar movie first day first show, a first for a Thalaivar birthday! I have been quite hyper almost through out the day, screaming my guts out in the theatre, and pretty much talking only about the movie for the rest of the day. I happened to visit my physiotherapist who was kind of pained with all the hype given to the man's birthday in the city, and she was complaining about it to me, and to her discomfort, I added that I was a fan(atic)! On my way back home, I was thinking about what makes the man such a rage. The actor Raja Krishnamurthy talks in his book "Rajini's Punchtantras" about how it was an ideal mix of attitude, hard work, luck and style that made the man the empire he is today. But I wanted to analyze the entire thing from my point of view.

I grew up in the post-Rajini-mainstream era. What I mean by this is, by the time I was in my teens, Thalaivar had stopped acting in more than a movie in three years. Twenty-five Rajni movies have released post my birth, less than 15% of his body of work, and only five of those have released after I moved to Chennai. There are many who love Rajini for the man he is, but I'm sure all of his were at first floored by his films, after all the man is an actor. I've talked earlier in this blog about how it wasn't Maanikbasha, or Surya fighting for Deva, or the cigarette flipping Hussein in Geraftaar who floored me, but it was Maathadu Maathadu Mallige! I watched it for the first time at an age when I didn't have a clue about films, all I'd watched upto that point were mythological films of Sivaji Ganesan, thanks to the age-old rented VCR shop in Bahrain! When I watched the song, I was desperate to watch the movie, I was totally floored by the sherwani-wearing, vibhuti-clad man in the song, I'd not seen dance steps half as attractive as them, attention grabbed! I watched the movie, and fell in love with the hero. I watched the movie, not once, not twice, but thirty times, to the point of my parents telling me that the VCR shop guy will get pissed if I kill the video-casette with all the repeated viewing. Then started the period of catching up on other Thalaivar movies. I watched Basha on Sun TV (The only Tamil channel that was available in Bahrain then) for a Pongal, and Muthu the following Diwali on Sun TV. I also watched Annamalai on DD National, when they decided to play a Tamil movie with subtitles for some reason, ever thankful to them for that! I caught up with Padayappa on another VCR. By then, I was a fanatic, and all this for someone who I didn't know anything about other than on the screen, in my case the television screen.

Then, Sun TV played Marudunayakam's inaugural function, which had Queen Elizabeth visiting and all that fanfare. I saw Thalaivar's true getup for the first time, and was paralyzed with shock for a day. For close to two years, the man I had been worshipping on TV, whose punch dialogues I would reel out to my younger brother, who would stand in front of me like Raghuvaran trying to give counters to those dialogues, that man was nothing like the man I knew. Well, I then brought my spirits up when I saw Kamal Haasan in a beard and all that, since I had watched only Avvai Shanmugi up until then, and he wasn't like anything I'd seen before either. Then homecoming happened, a couple of years down the drain, and evening 3-5.30 pm Sun TV movies happened. I caught up on a lot of old Thalaivar movies, and slowly got into the groove of Thalaivar jargon. I got to know what "Idhu epdi irukku" meant, what "Alex Pandian" meant, what "Ayyampettai Arivudainambi Kaliyaperumal Chandran" meant, and so on! I loved Baba, and for some reason others didn't, so lets not delve much into it. The movie was a disaster, and Thalaivar went on a hiatus. I went on an old Thalaivar movies watching spree, I guess it was during this period that I watched most of his movies.  This was also the blossoming of the Vijay-Ajith-into-megastars period. In school, people were fans mostly of these two, there were even people who were fans of Simbu (If your reading this, I still remember :P) what I didn't realise was many of them were closet-Thalaivar fans too. I was a very vocal Thalaivar fan even then, with a few classmates, guys who would shout (sometimes even abuse) someone who spoke something even remotely against Thalaivar out of an argument. It was also during this period that I got to study the man better. It is common knowledge what everyone says about the amazing human being he was, and all of that, but I tend not to trust anyone on such hearsay value. I tried to dig up on this man's dirt, his past, and there were loads of it in the past, but his immediate past, say from around 1985 was clean, so clean that if it were a plate, I could eat from it. My respect started growing. The man's humility and down-to-earth nature, amidst a million other stuff floored me. The rest, as they say is history.

Everyone knows the elephant-horse story from just before Chandramukhi, and those who watched Sivaji in the theatres are not likely to forget that experience for a long long time. I joined www.rajnifans.in in class 8, which was then Thalaivar's official fans' club, the pre-social networking days. I used to be able to block tickets for movies in advance, something that I wasn't able to utilize even once but. The name went global, and inevitably, the fame too did. People walked out of the closet, publicly acknowledging their love for the man, which included my best  friends. When Endhiran released, it had to overlap with Shaastra. I was the math-modeling coordinator, and one of my best friends and co-Rajini fanatic, who was my volunteer then, both of us were left cribbing about how we'd have to go not so early to the movie because of the quizzes which started right after Shaastra. I watched Endhiran on day 10 after release, something I'm ashamed of to date! Nevertheless, my love for the man has just grown, his larger-than-life onscreen persona, coupled with that humble, down-to-earth offscreen has helped matters, after all he is a celebrity who I not only love wholeheartedly, but also someone I could look up to in all matters, the man who shows right from wrong, who validates my age-old ideas of a good leader, someone who gives every single fan of his, that he is his own, his personal Superstar! Love you Thalaiva! May you live long, that "Kanna" you say, is just priceless.

P.S: Thalaivar, no politics ever please! I respect you totally for that! Neenga nenacha aatchiye maathalam, aana adhula involve aagadhadhu thaan unga greatness! :-)

Navaratri, through my eyes.

As I sit with my bowl of seeyam and ulundhu vadai, my mind takes me on a wild trip of all Navaratris I've known to date! The 9 days, followed by Vijayadasami, has always been a fun period, as all festivals are intended to be, with what it means to me changing with time. My earliest memories of Navaratri are from Bahrain, where the Tamil community there used to be extremely active, with golus being a regularity. The nine days, used to be a period of extreme socialising (Socialising amongst Indian groups is far more in foreign countries, than so in India, but during Navaratri, this just moves into a different dimension altogether). The moms would be the main stars of Navaratri, the ladies rather, they would be needed to go and collect vethala paaku - betel nut, pazham - fruit and possibly some gift usually silk cloth, and those who were used to exercising their vocal chords, would sing a song or too, and as old Tamil uncles would say, "veede kala kattum" (the entire house would be up in spirits, figuratively). With all the travelling to various houses happening in Bahrain, the food every night would be an amalgam of sundal - Navaratri's primary food delicacy, a different variety made on each of the nine days, collected at different houses. There would also be dinner gatherings, usually at the place of the person who hosts you at the last time slot of the day, around 10 pm maybe. For the children, especially me, who was majorly into mythology, the main attraction would be the toys in the golu. Especially the ones people got there, from summer vacations in India, Indian mud toys were just the best (and still are :-) ).

After we moved in to India, the texture of the festival began changing. The first few years here, the excitement grew, because more golu toys were in access. The Mada streets in Mylapore, maybe my favorite place in Chennai, would have a hundred shops selling toys, packed in four streets. Apart from the usual Rama-Sita-Lakshmana-Hanuman, Dasavatharam, Raja-Rajeshwari, the crawling Krishna, the Chettiars and their vegetables and the Ashtalakshmis, which were a commonality in almost every golu, one would also want to stuff their golu with new, never-seen-before toys, and try to make his/her golu unique in one's own way. My personal favorites among the various stuff we bought/made were a couple of my Mom's Tanjore paintings (Raja Rajeshwari and crawling Krishna, yet again), and a Kailasa set. The Kailasa set, we tried to make more sophiscated with each passing year. There was this basic setup of Lord Shiva and family sitting atop Kailasa, and Narada, Mahavishnu et al. in a posture of prayer below. We tried to make the setup even more appealing with constructing a Himalaya like scenario around it, and a temple-like theppa kulam, around which there was home-grown grass, starting from nought on day one, it'd go up to covering the temple on day nine. I enjoyed contributed in making all this, and I helped my mom and grandmother do this, till even last year. To me, the golu has always been the best part of the navaratri.

As I grew up, it also became the time when I could invite friends home. So, the culture in schools in Chennai was, if parents went to meet their friends and get vethala-paaku pazham, why not our friends too? So, from about class 8, I think, we started calling friends home, who in turn called us too, and there was a lot of travel during these days. This was fun, and the day friends came home, was the day I started expecting eagerly every year. It used to be great fun, I still remember vividly the days, when Shrids, Navneet, GL, J, KP, Varun, Kaushik and the rest used to come home, we used to let the mothers talk, and used to find our time to chat inside. Especially in class 11 and 12, when academics were already at our necks and threatening to drown us, this used to be a welcome relief, ten days, when academics couldn't really play its games, even if it could, we didn't care!

After moving into college, friends moved away. Most part of my 10 days would be spent in college, maybe for the exception of Saraswati Pooja/ Ayudha Pooja (when I'd go around after the pooja, applying chandanam to all the ayudhas - appliances at home, electronic and non-electronic, and Heru would come behind me applying kumkum to the same), and Vijayadasami (the day when all new endeavours are supposed to be started, ironically the day of Navaratri when insti stays closed on account of Dussehra). I'd still be home to plan the golu, a day or two before Navaratri, and be off once the golu was kept. Very few memories stick in here. One was of a nightout with Rak and Shre at my place on a night of Navaratri in the first year, though this has nothing to do whatsoever with the idea of Navaratri. Another was, I invited my friends Shaileshh, Vasuki, Midhun, Sritej, and Prasad for lunch on the day of Ayudha Pooja in my third year. It was a day of awesome food, following which we went to Kapali temple, and the Marina beach, after having the famed Mada veedhi rose-milk in between. That was another really awesome day.The Vijayadasami day also has a few memories associated with it. Around ten years ago, on that day, I started learning music, though it didn't last for too long. I joined KK sir's class on Vijayadasami day in 2005, and that's an association that has lasted for real long. I started learning the Vedas in insti's temple on Vijayadasami day in 2010, another day worth remembering. If not anything else, Vijayadasami day would be filled with studying, studying and more studying. After all, what's the best endeavor for a Tambrahm to start? Mugging! :-D

I hope I haven't bored the readers a whole lot, but I just wanted to record all this, as I randomly remembered them. After all, in all probability, I wouldn't be home for Navaratri for the first time in twenty-one years. I will though, in spirit and on Skype, passing on instructions for what to keep and what not to, in the golu next year!

An icon like no other

Some mornings you wake up thinking what to do, and the picture for the day is quite hazy. Today was one such day, and so I decided to randomly talk about something which is relevant to the date.

October 2, a date which brings in the luxury of a holiday, thanks to the birth of that old, loin-cloth clad, goat-milk drinking man, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The unanimous leader of the much-famed movement which paved the way to India's independence. Our way of recognising his thirty three years of service to the nation, granting people an off on the day of his birth. He has been someone who has singnificantly influenced the idea of the country India, not just for people from outside looking at our country, but also for ourselves from within.

Gandhi is less a man, and more a symbol today, like Big Brother, who overlooks our actions from rupee notes to government offices, every transaction happens in his purview, only, he is powerless. But, nevertheless, I believe he is the greatest icon of the twentieth century. For one, India is a diverse country, various cultures, different points of view, ideas galore, and to have them united is a task in itself. Not only did Gandhi bring them under one roof, he made them root together, for the same thing. He was truly the first person to take the movement to a nationalist scale. Until then, no leader had the appeal to attract Indians as a group, but Gandhi was a mass leader, he was the true leader of the people, and his achievements lie testament to his greatness.

Though Gandhi is known widely most for ahimsa and satyagraha, at least that is what textbooks project his greatness to lie in, I would take a slightly different path to explain the same. I believed his greatness lay in the fact that he was able to set himself certain goals, and live up to them. Every man believes in a certan set of ethics, certain rights and wrongs, all in the mind. None of this is absolute, as there isn't any absolute right or wrong, but it is all custom-made. Gandhi believed in living his life for the nation, his family suffered big time. Families across the world might tell you that was wrong, but he ended up living the life which benefited million others. Gandhi's set of ethics included the principles of ahimsa and satyagraha, and he was true to them till the very end. His truth to the principle of ahimsa was evident when he ended up criticising Bhagat Singh's approach in a plunge towards ahimsa, a plunge, at this instance, which could have ended up being detrimental to the very movement he was striving for. His penchant for the truth, ended in him telling out stuff in his autobiography, "My Experiments with Truth", stuff which one wouldn't dare tell your closest friends. But he was sworn to truth, and everything was out on print, to the shock of the world.

Sometimes you feel he never should really have tried his hand at politics, especially when the critical issue of partition was at stake, but that is how leaders are, at some stage they cross the limits. Nevertheless, his adherence to priciples, and using them to drive to victory, is what he truly deserves to be remembered for, and someone of that intensity would be very hard to find in a million years hence. He was a great man, possibly the greatest India produced in the last 200 years, with truth in the mind and service at his core, someone we all could look up to and learn a million lessons from. The way he has been reduced to textbooks, a surname that has become synonymous with looting the country and a national holiday is utterly saddening, and we can only hope that the Gandhi revolution comes about all over again. Until then, we will try to  uphold the flag of adherence to our set of ethics, and keep the spirit of Gandhi alive. Happy Gandhi Jayanthi! :-)

The Raja vs Rahman debate!

This is not a post to prove or disprove the supremacy of one over the other! It is just my take on this discussion, my contribution to topic that has been hot in the last one year or so. What I think makes my part in this unique is that I am a diehard fan of both, and so this is a different perspective into the same thing.

To discuss this, one firstly needs to understand the history of Tamil cinema and film-music. Tamil cinema's first real phenomenon was M.K.Thyagaraja Bhagavathar. MKT, as he was popularly known, was a one-man army, like Rajnikanth today but in another sense. He composed and sang his own music, acted, and even produced his own films. The man had girls all over the state swooning over him, possibly the only Tambrahm guy to have ever done that (Kamal Haasan was Tambrahm too, but still the adoration MKT enjoyed was undivided). Sadly, all we know him today, more or less, is for this. Then, he was convicted of a murder, went to jail, and when he came back, the adoration was all gone. By then the Dravidian movement had taken roots, and the scripts of Anna were ruling the roost. This also marked the advent of Tamil Nadu's first real composer duo, Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy. They, coupled with the music they composed for the likes of Sivaji Ganesan, MGR et al, held the movie-watching audience in sway for long. My dad, for one, is a die hard fan of the duo, so much so that he wouldn't even consider songs which were composed by MSV, post the duo broke up, as great! The duo, for a long time, held the audiences captive to mainly melodic tunes, MSV was also called "Mellisai Mannar" (literally meaning "King of Light Music", but the title was conferred to mean "King of Melodies") for the same. There was a funny ring of western music in their tunes as well, such as in this. On hindsight, it does seem an excellent composition, after all it was contemporary then. Much of their strength also lay in the beautiful lyrics of this man. That period was considered the golden age for lyricists, something that has never been replicated since the advent of Raja, and subsequently Rahman. A few samples of Kannadasan's gems with the duo are here and here.  But, one thing they never managed for a long time, was the ushering in of western instruments.

It was around this period that Daniel Rasayya (later Ilaiyaraja) debuted with Annakili. It was a rural subject, something that proved to be his forte in the years to come, just like Rahman debuted with Roja, a pan-Indian subject, something that he has come to be known for over the years. Both had the fortune of instantly capturing the hearts of the audiences. I believe someone's real talent shows in their first album. This is because, future albums might contain songs composed over a week, a month at maximum, but the debut album always consists of songs which have been planned for years. The afore-mentioned two, and also Ismail Darbar (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam), Harris Jeyaraj (Minnale), Anirudh (3) are examples of first albums which were smash hits and at the same time very acclaimed. If Raja's Machana Paathingala sent audiences into a frenzy, Rahman's Chinna Chinna Aasai added a new dimension to Indian music. Raja's ascent, as in the case of Rahman, was immediate. It helped his cause that MSV was composing music for lesser movies at the period. The advent of Raja also pushed MSV to the limits, which was healthy for Tamil cinema. MSV was forced to prove his expertise in more modern genres as well, which resulted in this classic (I am yet to listen to a song that outbeats the lyrics of this one). He also came up with one of his best melodies, in collaboration with Kannadasan during this period. But the period truly belonged to Raja. He was composing music for nearly 30-40 films a year, and if there was a hit song in Tamil cinema in this period, it belonged to Raja. The rest, as they say, is history. There wasn't really a competitor till Rahman came about.In the 90s though, Raja did come up with some absolute classics, but there is no denying the 90s belonged to Rahman, as much as the 2000s did not (come on, he came up with awesome albums each time he composed, but he cut down on the number of movies drastically). So this is where comes the comparison, both these geniuses have impacted Tamil music in a gargantuan way, but we people would never take an art form as plainly an art, will we? We feel the need to analyse and squeeze the feel out of it!

Raja's main contribution to music here is definitely the introduction of western instruments. The guitar, which was almost unheard of, up until then, made a grand entry with Raja. Some of his most beautiful urban classics have got a strong guitar support, the beginning strum of En Iniya Pon Nilave is enough to send fans into a frenzy, or this, another of my favorites. Rahman's greatest contribution has been the introduction of technology into Indian music. Also the extensive use of rhythmic patterns, and beats, which existed, but in very small numbers before him. Some of his earliest hits, both, typical dance numbers (the modern day item songs), or even melodies, had a strong beat pattern. Raja's strengths lay in his folk numbers, something at which he was a natural as a result of his upbringing, while Rahman's lay in multi layered composition. While it has to be Raja who is the unopposed Raja of orchestration, Rahman always stood miles ahead of the rest when it came to trying new sounds (in this case, composing with plainly human sounds) out. Raja had the ability to dictate musical notes, and throw out sheets to the various members of the orchestra, but if you notice clearly, there wouldn't be a juxtaposing of various instruments at a time. With Rahman though, the juxtaposing is his strength. That is why I believe Rahman's songs grow on you. The more you listen to them, the more the various layers keep presenting themselves, and the more you fall in love with the composition.

Evidently, both have their strengths, with no clear weakness. Most of my friends like the music of these geniuses, but invariably swear by one. I believe Raja's tunes are very endearing due to the fact that they are very simple. They are hummable by anyone, and though it takes a genius to compose them, but for his full-fledged musicals such as Sindhu Bhairavi, Saagara Sangamam or Punnagai Mannan, the songs in most of his movies are ones which anyone can try his/her hand it. It is in the language of a layman. As with Rahman's music, I believe the songs speak to the soul, such as this one. The music is not very simple, but definitely soulful, something you can't sing along with easily, but can listen to, on and on, and find newer stuff each time, like peeling open an onion. One thing I'd put to Rahman is that his strike rate is definitely higher, and that too with some competition around, unlike Raja, who was the undisputed king in the 80s, with not really a great strike rate. But, the quantity of composition of Raja, is huge, so with that huge a sample space, a dip in strike rate, is maybe acceptable. Also, the number of genres Rahman has dabbled with are significantly higher than Raja. Maybe that is because of the kind of opportunities Raja got, as compared to Rahman. (I heard this from Raja the other day. Raja's equivalent of Rahman's this)

But, at the end of the day, all these are plain statistics, because you and I, know that the music is what speaks. So, let us stop the arguings, and click on each of these links, and more, and listen to the musics :P :)

The denial state

Everyone has opinions. Opinions are good, but they are the problem too! How many of us really give a thought to what someone else tells us, their thoughts, opinions, suggestions etc? While it is true, that the only thing in the world that is truly free, is opinion, and is available from anyone, at anytime, why is it that invariably we denounce the opinions of others, and move into a shell of denial?

This is something that has bothered me for quite a while now. People who know me wll, might have noticed a sudden religious turn in me. I think spiritual thought is something everyone gives their mind to at some point of time, and few beliefs, ideas have started taking shape in my head over the last two years or more. This pain about denial happened a while back, over lunch, when a couple of friends and I were discussing the origins of theism. What I couldn't understand then, and also from discussions from rationalist friends (with due to respect to them, since Kamal Haasan says in a talk, "Don't call us atheists, we have a different name, call us rationalists!") in the past, is why a talk with them begins with denial.

Let us take a small detour into history, before we continue on this topic. India has had a rationalistic influence over say, the last 100 years. Maybe from the days of E.V.Ramasamy Naicker (the man they call Periyar), rationalism took a strong root in Tamil Nadu. There were others too, and the combined effect of theirs is a huge part of what they call rationalism in India today. But before the wave of rationalism in India, (the arrival of which was absolutely necessary I believe, since it tried to fight casteist politics at its roots) let us rewind by centuries. Some of India's greatest scientists/mathematicians/astronomers, such as Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, and the others, were people who walked the tight-rope between rationality and spirituality, albeit very successfully. Later, even in the times of Madhava, there was a thin rope between the two today seemingly diverse areas. Another strong area of interest of the former two, was astrology, a science in the days of yore! Varahamihira, was in fact, an astrologer par excellence, and is widely considered the last great astrologer this country saw! So, what intrigues me is, when every Tom, Dick and Harry goes around talking atheism in the capacity of an expert, while these were people too, who knew what they were doing, and does it make them fools, that they believed in the idea of a super-power? Getting back to the original question, why do we have to outright deny, without giving it a thought? This was the same of the Greek researchers, if I may call them so. Forget ancient history, the "Einsteinien model of God" was very close to what Advaita calls god too! So, did Einstein not know what he was talking about? For someone who could comprehend ideas that eluded human thought across histories, plainly in the mind, was he so dumb, that he could not out-think this idea of a power?

I'm trying not to be a fundamentalist Hindu here, but it irritates me when someone talks about Hinduism as a religion, and as something that makes a fool out of people. Firstly Hinduism is plainly a philosophy, actually a collection of philosophies, of which atheism is one too! When one talks to me about casteist Hindu politics, and people fighting in the name of Hinduism, yes, it does disgust me too that people do it, but when we are talking ideas, and talking philosophies, it would help to be faithful to the truth behind the idea being propogated! If atheism were taboo among Hindu philosophies, then there wouldn't be the name Jabali in the Ramayana, nor would  there have been the creation of a Buddhist philosophy, which works on very close levels to atheistic principles.

Now, does this mean that following Hindu rituals, or reading the scriptures make me any less rational? I have been brought up in a rational manner too, and according to my definition of rationality, it just means seeking answers. Seeking answers to questions, whose answers I do not know! I would never go behind a curtain and hide because I don't know the answer to a question. When a question is being posed, I would not deny the existence of such a question either, as most of my rational friends would do. I would rather face the question, and try to find answers to it, try hard enough. Either in a straightforward manner. Or in a manner, which has been tried and tested. They call it achaara. Tradition. The idea says, some questions to which you aren't able to get an answer for, you would be able to find one, slowly, over time. Following your traditions, would give you the answer over time, in the form of impact in your life! Being a rationalist here, I've seen my father following it and reaping benefits, my grandfather doing the same, why wouldn't I do the same? All I'm doing is, equating 1+1 to 2. Rationality also believes in deducing, and if deductions aren't wrong, aren't stupid, then what I'm doing wouldn't be either, right? After all, what's life without a little bit of mysticism and mystery? :)

The misconstrued world of Indian tradition

The inspiration behind this article has been the hue and cry against Indian tradition, which has, in some sense, been plain disgusting to me. People seem to be complaining about anything Indian. Corruption, roads, beggars, quality of life, all these young issues, and of course, that old grandma sitting in the corner of the room imposing herself on everybody around, yes, Indian tradition! It is no new thing that people have been complaining about her, but she has managed to trudge on slowly across the years, with lesser and lesser endorsers albeit.

So, let us start off with the purpose of a "man-created God" or a "supreme being". Well, I'd like to believe, in spite of the multiple other purposes such an idea served, the most important one was that of bringing something common for everyone to believe in. Well, let me tell here,that the idea of belief and the power of human thought, is something I hold as extremely potent. The prayers of a million can move a mountain, I believe. India, or rather, the composite landmass we today know as the sub-continent, was built on this idea of faith. Let us not forget, that humans, earlier to the idea of faith, were plain savages. That is the basic human nature, faith, and the rules it brought along with it, make human beings what they are. So, if we are ready to discard faith, we must be ready to discard anything that we bracket under principles of ethics today. Do not mistake me, I am not trying to say that rules and ethics were followed out of fear for a supreme power which everyone believed in, but am trying to say that, they were followed out of a belief, that more will be well, with a united society striving for a common end, working towards their common belief, than out of plain savage mentality.

Indian tradition is something that has evolved over centuries. It was one part of the world, where there wasn't an idea of a religion, though there was an idea of worship. There were small sects, and different gods (and why gods? That has an answer too, but that is for another post some other day), but the people were given the freedom of choice. A father could be a believer in Rama, while the son could smear himself in vibhuthi, and sing paeans of Shiva. Rama's court had rishis of all faiths (read philosophies, in those days there weren't faiths, only philosophies), one of the most notable being  Rishi Jabali, who used to be a proponent of the philosophy of atheism (which only meant the rejection of deities, no one really rejected the inexplicable power of nature then). The bracketing of Indians into religions happened much later, in the time of the British. That is why Hind, and Hindustan (meaning "the land enclosed by the Indus/Sindhu" and not "land of the Hindus") came first, and Hindu came later. The idea is not to propogate the idea of Indian culture being the best culture around, but it is to say, that we are not that bad! The sad part of the entire argument, is what we look up to in all awe and wonder, a land, which does not have a faith for itself, and does not believe in anything. Anyone who believes in a power, at a point of ultimate wroth, is chancy of thrusting his rage on the power he believes in, and letting be, while someone who doesn't believe in anything whatsoever, thrusts his rage on the society, thereby only causing ill to its harmony. It is no wonder, that the country we are talking about, has the largest crime rate in the world, while we, though not so great on this account, are still lower in the tenth position.

Above all the arguments that exist and will continue to exist about ideas such as theism, culture et cetera, what is more saddening to see is that we Indians tend to bash up our culture, in favor of some other non-existent one. We refuse to look into the nuances of why there are rules, and try to follow them correctly so as to serve the purpose of why they are, rather we decide to abandon them, and later bash them up on forums and in public. And we call ourselves educated people, logically thinkers, what a shame! Well, let me remind you, it wasn't a fool who said, the grass is always greener on the other side, and we may all do well to keep in touch with our Indian roots, because there might come a day when we might want to get back in touch with them, and we wouldn't be able to!

Love - in the eyes of a novice

"Machi Namakkellam kashtam da" - a good friend of mine across four years in IITM.

Okay, so I didn't find any drive to write for so long. But, to talk about love, is something I haven't really done at any detail on my blog, and I wanted to generally post about it sometime, and hence some initiative to write after a month and a half almost. I felt, as someone, who has no experience in these matters, it would be an interesting analysis to make. This post talks more about love in India, possibly a small bit of foreign influences, yeah, but deals more with Indian scenarios, as I can relate to them better.

So, when I grew up, all I knew about love was, the meeting of two individuals, they fell in love with each other at first sight, sang songs, ran around trees, went for movies and all the usual stuff, and then the parents came in, hurdles in solemnizing the relationship were overcome, and everything ended hunky dory. Much of the love I saw in my growing up years, was that in movies. I didn't care to think much about the logic in them, at that age it didn't really make much sense to me, so I got introduced to the idea, but didn't try analyzing the concept. Soon, things started changing. Love started happening around me. There were love marriages in the family, something that was possibly unheard of in the previous generations, (If someone from the family is reading this, a small tidbit - Paati's younger brother had a love marriage in the 60s, but that was with his uncle's daughter, and still was a huge deal in those days) and the movies were taking form. People I knew started going out with girls, the word we used then was 'committed' (like Macha, X and Y are committed da!!). When this happened with batchmates, it was something unacceptable, felt like open flouting of social norms. Then came in, the idea of dates, and dating. Well, the first time when I or my friends, heard of the concept of dating, it was sure as hell freaking out. We were adjusting to the mentality that it's not really wrong for a guy and a girl to go out together in the capacity of a boyfriend-girlfriend as long as they were "committed" to each other, but the idea of testing out compatibility by means of dates, before really getting together, is something that went above our heads. A few more years down the line, today, getting into relationships over the internet has become easier, Skype makes the world very small. With relationship-hunting becoming very easy and customized, the number of people in relationships has multiplied. On the flip side, break-ups have increased too. The more callous ones break-up over gifts, and distance, while the slightly more serious ones too break-up over stuff like two-timing. Oh ya, how did I forget, people even have the luxury of two-timing, that's how easy getting into relationships has become.

So, how really did this evolution happen? The earliest I can think of, is love in the 50s. Why I do not precede those times, is because love before the advent of social Indian cinema was a taboo in the country, and people in love were far and few in number. The only kinds of love I've heard of in that period was of people who'd travel to Rangoon (Burma/Myanmar) and settle down there after getting married to a lady there. Ever since, Indian love has always reflected contemporary cinema, and vice versa. With the advent of cinema, and the movies of Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, and down south with a Gemini Ganesan, love was more of a spark at first sight, the thunderbolt as Michael Corleone says. A sight, and the guy would be head over heels with the girl. In early Indian cinema, this would lead to the guy asking the girl's father for her hand in marriage, and then it slowly turned to both these folks liking each other, and getting together eventually or not, depending on how their parents took the whole thing. After all, the lead characters could not lose out on their family values. Then came the rebel period of the 70s and 80s. Everything about this period was a rebellion. It was cool to smoke and drink on screen, the hero could have a few grey shades to his character, bringing him closer to the Indian public, and this was when he fell in love with the girl, who was ready to rebel for him. The sheer number of films in which Kamal Haasan rebels against the society for his love, is something that epitomizes this period. In this period, the thunderbolt was still there, but the more important aspect of a relationship was the love between the lead characters, "true love" as they called. They would live for love, and they would die for it too. In some sense, it also seemed to echo the "perfection" of a Romeo-Juliet tale. Then came the 90s and 2000s, where it took a different dimension. Love need no longer be at first sight. It grew inside the characters, till it reached a level where they'd attained the "true-love" threshold, like a character in a video game, who waits to get enough ammunition before he fires, and then the lovers fired. The singing, and dancing continued, but the idea changed considerably. Globalization happened, and foreign ideas started invading the Indian love scenario. As I'd described earlier, the advent of the dating revolution happened, and in some sense, people started hunting for love. People could no longer wait for it to come and hit them, if it did at all, and started searching for it through various avenues. People started going out in school, were pros at relationship through college, and by the time they started working, were even used to handling break-ups. What is it that people have started seeking? Earlier it was helplessness, people who were in love didn't know how or why it hit them, it just did and then went with the tide. Later it became a thrill, obtained in flouting social norms, which was compounded with this helplessness. Then, it became a need for companionship. Today it has become a style statement.

So, is this good or bad? I'm not here to judge that, and with no sort of experience whatsoever, I am in no capacity to judge either. Though I must admit, a couple of the older styles appeal to me, much more than the latest one. One of my friends was not ready to accept to me for nearly a year into his relationship, that he was "in love" with his girl, till when he was apparently getting to know her, and strengthening his relationship before getting to "that stage". This kind of attitude is something I'm sure I would never be able to embrace, and at some level, even feels blasphemous to me. But, as I've oft mentioned in this post, as someone who hasn't been in a relationship, and harbors no intentions of getting into one anytime in the near future, maybe my opinions are just that of that rare third person observer, Rashomon style! But, as Suriya/Ajay Devgan says in Aaytha Ezhuthu/Yuva, the whole idea behind romance seems as simple as "line-propogation , hormones, XX, XY, chromosomes", that's as simple as it gets. All the baggage, extra luggage it brings along after just some kind of plot to get the effective act done! Really? Well, again I don't know. Try out for yourself! Well one thing I'd be eternally thankful to "love" for is the million beautiful songs it has given us. Also, the lyricists grow extra intelligent and choosy when it comes to this emotion of mankind, and the right words just fall in place. There are exceptions everywhere, but I am talking about the general trend.

P.S: If you think I've wasted your precious time here, I'm sorry! After all, its fun to prepare for TOEFL writing on random topics on your blog, rather than writing on the boring topics the mock test gives! :P

P.P.S: Ok stop the bad words, how much of it can I take, really! :D
 

A wise JEE maketh a good IITian

It's been just four years since I wrote JEE, but one thing I've realized hence, that it is the examination that is going to define me for the rest of my life. It is (was) arguably the world's most competitive exam in terms of candidates-to-seats ratio, and for a large part of its existence, the toughest undergrad entrance examination that was. As I've mentioned in my previous blog post, my JEE preparation was one predetermined, and well planned procedure. It was a 4 year long process, the first 2 years involving me sleeping through physics and chemistry classes, and strengthening the foundation I had in mathematics. Also, generally preparation is not the least bit serious for someone in class 9 or 10. What followed was two years, that built character in mine, and possibly every other IITian's life.

The initial part of my JEE studying was marred by certain controversial decisions to join a relatively new coaching center, instead of already existing reputed ones. Since I had acquired a decent reputation for maths in the city, and my switch only meant confusion those who were genuinely confused already, it was tamasha all around. Well, joining SMART only enhanced my chances, and that is one decision I'm glad I made. The preparation for JEE in class 11, though was more serious than that in class 9 and 10, we still had not grasped the gravity of the situation. Time was spent on other activities as well, like watching cricket, and chattering about to glory. The sincerity in us was clearly lacking. When the whole world was trying hard to get concepts into their head, solving question papers, the scenario in Chennai was less urgent. Maybe that's the way it has been always.

Early in class 12, we wrote this exam called FTSE. An All-India level exam, it was a shocking reality check.
This was when, we understood that we had to pull our socks up. The transformation came about almost immediately. What followed, was the phase that made the all of us. People began to slog their asses off. Problem solving happened day-in and day-out. Under benches in school (where people otherwise went in class 12 only to learn Computer Science, and have some little fun for the otherwise tasking day), in buses while traveling, while talking to friends on the phone, while going out to culturals, problem solving was what happened all the time. I must say, it was a period that brought all of us together as well, as we were undergoing something common, and the impact of it was so high that it was possible for us to take it together only as a team. JEE made us work hard. Something I had done in bits and pieces for the first 15 years of my existence, I did it at one go in my 16th. Everything was an excuse to study. Jaundice meant two weeks of holidays, so study! Shivratri meant one night of staying up, and so study! Every single holiday, and day when school was bunked, added so much value to one's study life.

In came the FIITJEE AITS. The best judge of one's position in nation-wide JEE preparation. It got tougher with every outing, competition rising, and our necks were deep in water. The preparation was not as we would have liked, but we still had confidence, we could make it somehow, maybe with a bit of a slog, but somehow it would have to be done. Another trait that preparing for JEE instilled in us. We got study-holidays to cram for our boards, but no one really cared. JEE preparation happened in full swing, until the day that mattered. Finally, the exam was written, just like any other AITS test. The exam day was just like any other test day. But what preparing for JEE instilled into us, went far beyond just JEE, and I'm sure anyone who prepared for JEE, IITian or not, would vouch for that. I ended up with AIR-694, something below my expectations, but not something I regret today, because the JEE meant much more than a rank.

The demise of the exam is something to be mourned for sure, and it is sad, that in the India of increasing pressures, the students are not being let to learn to cope up with the pressure, instead on the pretext of backing away from it, it is being thrown right on top of their heads in a volume which is plain unfathomable. Maybe we would never see the JEE again, but what it gave us, went far beyond just that tag of an IITian.
 

Four years - A lifetime

It had always been an ambition to study in IIT-Madras. Even before I got to know that IIT administered degrees in engineering. It is a shameful admission, that I got into IIT, of my own will yeah, but the driving force behind it was to see my mother happy, as she had wanted it possibly from the day I had started my education. So, when I came into IIT, I did not know what to expect. For someone, who had shifted school only once in his entire schooling career, that too with the first shift being some sort of a intermediate jump in class 5, I had never really experienced farewell. Leaving P.S.Senior was very, very difficult for me, for the memories it gave me. Then, I came into IITM. I always felt like I owned this place. The people coming in here, to be frank, was never really an intimidating factor, since I had a lot of friends here as I joined the place. Prasad, Rak, Baby, Sreeki, Srini, Srinath, Sivaram (now better known as Mosqui) were all friends from school, and IIT seemed just like one big reunion. On the other hand were friends from the same coaching class as mine, which in addition to these species, involved CJR, RK, Manda, to name a few. But there was one odd feeling about joining this place.

The first day I came here, I remember vividly, was spent in an orientation talk, followed by the entry into the legendary SGR mess. There, I met, someone I knew from class 8, who would go on to become one of my closest buddies at IITM, Karthikram. I really didn't know he was in here till then. Well, here was someone in addition to Jaichu, Dhari and Surya, the other three Vidya Mandir guys (P.S.Senior's rival in the school "business"). I really didn't hit off with him initially, but I guess our similarities brought us together. Playing cricket in the first sem, under Ayush's leadership, going home by bus every evening after practice in the first sem, and coming back by car the next morning, the infinite stories shared, the laughs and pains bartered, they'll remain in memory forever I guess. As a gang, we all had a chat session in CCD after the 'O' level orientation exam in English. I guess, that was the first real "meet-up" of the legendary tam-gang in insti. In CRC, where our classes in first semester used to happen, Prasad and I, two solitary 'h' batch guys used to while time away, until we realized another bird of the same feather was sheltering under the same roof. It was the mokka mannan of DAV, CJR, the guy who used to thulp KK sir's physics classes with considerable ease, co-Vijay fan, but more memorably remembered as the guy who cried on TV when his class 10 board results came (his principal forced him, he claims). We hit off instantly. If Ram added some kind of dynamism to our group, CJR added the flavor of mokka. There has to be a joker in every group. CJR was ours, but not just a joker, a very witty one he was. If there's someone with whom I've shared a million laughs in insti, it is CJR! The next stop was the elec dept. Here, I met many many people, lots who would become future friends. I knew very few though initially, and tried bonding with those I knew. There was this girl, muggu max, who I'd seen in the chemistry olympiad camp at HBCSE, and I knew she was the cousin of a friend of mine. I struck conversations randomly with her, when we met on the road, staircases and all, little realizing that she'd become someone who'd know my in-and-out someday. Vasuki, the snake girl, went on to soon become another of my closest buddies. She was the first person in insti, with whom I started vetti chats, and gossips, and that has somehow stuck on for four years now! Somewhere down the semester, there was this guy, who I had always visualized as armed with a sickle from the suburbs of Trichy, a math genius, and at that point of time, a physics freak, who started becoming extremely close to me. Today, apart from being a really good friend, he stands as one of my biggest inspirations with respect to a lot of stuff, one of the guys I know with the weirdest imaginations, and possibly the one I hold with maximum respect in insti, Shaileshh.

Apart from this gang, I had a lot of other friends too. My wing, consisting of Mallika and Midhun, predominantly my closest guys in here, and also Vishruth, who I earlier called Tantrik, Sappola,  Lohit, Shywhy, Bouncy, and Harsha. Later down the years, I made great friends with Tunu, through infinite shared interests and classes. There were people like Vedha, who I continued to greet throughout with a Vedha-the mass, and Kanu, who was my pseudo-neighbour for three years. There was Kadala, the musically inclined, and KS, my cricket team-mate.  I made friends at cricket practice too, like Prashanth, Prabhu, Lotion, Pratyush amongst others. Prabhu, or Dhev as I call him, went on to become a really really close friend of mine with time. We came very close during practice in our final year, and he went on to star in my short film in his last semester. There was Prasad's wing, the terrors as I call them, for there is no person/topic under the sun, which escapes their terrorizing scrutiny. This included Hari (Prasad's roommate), who eventually became on a personal note very close to me too, Prem, Ashok, mimicry talent, cricket sense and knowledge about Tamil movies are just beyond me, the afore-mentioned Dhev and Prashanth (BS), and finally, the honorary Tapti wing member, Zubair, alias Zuberman, who used to be found in compromising situations in Prem's room!

Then there were gangs I mingled with and got close to in patches. One was that of Glucon and KK. It was during this period that I got to know Psycho and 7f amongst others. Glucon, the math freak, was another guy I admired for his talents, but I despised him for the way I saw him wasting them.  KK was another talented guy, he was somehow the guy with the golden touch always.  Then there was the Jam gang. I got particularly close to them in my second year during sessions in CJR’s room where he was confined thanks to a broken leg. This gang included Jaichu, the Mech stud, ex-VMite as I had mentioned earlier, and a relative exponent of Sanskrit and philosophy. Another of those inspirations, with respect to a spiritual thought process. It also included Rajesh, (#face-palm for all those of you who understood this) the guy officially behind half the terror in the Jam gang, and others like Sahaj, someone who has been a good hi-bye casual chat friend for four years, Big Show with whom I spent a summer in IISc getting very close to, Shyam KJ, mech-to-elec BC putter, who had been in the ‘h’ batch with me right from my first year, and also people like Kannabiran, Rohit and PK.

The Ganga hostel always held special memories for me. It was where I dined for the first two years of my insti life, and the tam-gang at SGR became legendary in many senses. Apart from the gang, there lived Baby (partner in anything Math for the last 8 years, and a good good friend), Sreeki (curd from school, full bottle beer here, the propogand of the chappli ECR theory), Nishaanth (drunk calls prankster), Naveen (huge huge huge Yuvan fan) and Shiva (ji) (the CS terror). Another of those wings I enjoyed hanging out with from my first year was the Godav wing. The wing which contained of RK, Manda, Srini (ex-mokka putter, BT-to-CS branch changer), Sudha (fellow ARR fan, someone who has a brilliant taste in Indian movies), Jana (hero of my film, someone who became a friend over walks from ESB to Hostel zone), Surya (pseudo-drunkard, ex-VMite, someone with an opinion of his own all the time) and Nitin.G (novice) was always on fire. I watched my first group movie with this gang. RK had then recently bought a laptop, and we watched Ghajini which had released a day earlier after downloading it from LAN. This was on Jan 31, 2008. I still remember CJ’s imitation of VJK singing “Yeh teri adoori ... Guzaarish” the next day in class. There were others including Dhari, the man with the voice and the violin, Sai-G, eternal innocent cribber, BKa, Sai-G’s eternal companion in trust and life, etc. There was also the Quiz Club in which I meddled about every now and then in insti. That gave me another set of friends, memorable ones. I’d never forget the enthu with which PDF and I would go and sit in every new quiz only to come back disheartened with a “We will rock it next time”, for four straight years. I also got to know JoJo, old PSBB boy-rapist, Samadhi, the elec PJ putting godfather, who recently took over from an ex-godfather, Rakesh Misra, Tempo, Vinay, Bob and many others through this.
The department gave me a lot of friends too. I couldn’t thank the communication Dual degree group enough for they’ve been the ones who’ve spent a huge chunk of their academic time sitting in the same classes as me and adding so much to the memories. There’ve been DSP, MRB, NPS, Nishid, EF, Dilly, Pritesh, Varsha, Archana, Sadhana, and all others who I’d like to thank for all the memories I’ve endured in class hours with them. 

My life in IITM has encompassed many memorable incidents, FRP workshops, MK Jain’s classes, Sridhar Krishnan’s classes, Anjan’s classes, BRM’s classes, oops too many classes already, let’s get out of them, treats, b’day parties at 12 in the night and videos and gifts made for that purpose, chats in rooms, movies watched together, trips out, movies at Sathyam/Escape/Inox and even Jayanthi theatre, Elec nights, four Shaastras and four Saarangs, cricket matches, dept day outs, Guru fart sessions, concerts, running sessions, wolf sessions well into the night, attempted walks on the border road, sloka group meetings, visits to the shiva temple near the main gate, finding new cycling routes in insti, playing on arbitrary ducks in insti, mass fundae sessions – first attended and later put, Ascendas trips, the great Tam-Brahm meets/treats, and anything and everything that gave us so much fun here.

As for Shailu, Vasuki, Ram and CJ, I don’t really have to tell you how much I will miss you, you will know already. As for all of the others, I just don’t know how I’m going to get on with next year, in this place devoid of all of you. I will miss you’ll dearly. For wont of a better expression than this, I “kult” in true IITM style, and I totally mean, a quote of CJR’s
           “I couldn’t have possibly found a better place, or better people, to do a B.Tech with!”