I am of the opinion that an actor, however much talented he might be, must be an egomaniac if he makes a movie just to beat an existing record for the maximum number of on-screen roles. But then, most actors are egomaniacs. In fact, most people are egotists, so there isn’t anything wrong in a popular actor being an egomaniac.

A friend of mine called me on Friday asking me if I had listened to “Kallai mattum kandaal” song from Dasavathaaram. I had listened to only one song from that movie, and it was downright abysmal, so I had not taken a chance with the other songs. However, he insisted that I listen to this song, and that there was a particular set of lines that he found impressive.

When I listened to the song, I immediately figured which lines would have impressed my friend. The lines are:

Rajalakshmi naayagan Srinivasan dhaan

Srinivasan saei indha Vishnu dhaasan dhaan

Naattil undu aayiram raaja raajar dhaan

Raajanukku raajan indha Rangarajan dhaan

This translates to “Rajalakshmi’s husband is Srinivasan. Srinivasan’s son is this follower of Vishnu. There may be thousands of kings around. But I, Rangarajan, am king of kings.”

I knew that Kamal Hassan’s parents are Rajalakshmi and Srinivasan. However, I wanted to check for the names of the lyricist Vaali’s parents, specifically if his mother’s name was Rajalakshmi too. It is Ponnammaal, but Vaali’s father is also Srinivasan. Vaali, of course, is the lyricist’s psuedonym. His given name is Rangarajan. (Ref: Wikipedia pages for Kamal & Vaali)

The lines quoted here therefore can be taken in different ways. The most straightforward (and probably intended) meaning is such that the first two lines refer to Kamal Hassan the person, and the next two refer to Vaali.

Passionate supporters of Kamal Hassan, who have already racked their brains to come up with a thousand theories to explain the movie, will say that in the movie, Rangaraja Nambi’s parents are Rajalakshmi and Srinivasan. So there is nothing egotistic about the lyrics, and that all four lines are about Rangaraja Nambi.

Be that as it may, I am reminded of an interview the lyricist Vairamuthu once gave on TV. It was a show about Rajnikanth, and many film personalities were praising the superstar, as being modest, humble etc.

Vairamuthu said, in his usual peter Tamil, “Rajnikanth is a very modest person. When I was penning the lyrics for the song Kikku eruthey for the movie Padayappa, I wrote a line that read

jeevan irukkum mattum, vaazhkai namakku mattum, idhu dhaan Rajni chiththar paattu

(Live your life fully, and waste not a second; this is Saint Rajni’s advice)

“When Rajnikanth looked at this, he said that he did not want his name to appear in the song, as it would sound ostentatious. So I was forced to change it to gnana chiththar paattu (the advice of a wise saint). It is a anachronism in today’s world where while people with very modest achievements, if any at all, crave for their name to appear everywhere, a person like Rajni, who has achieved so much, does not want his name to appear in a song, in a line which, after all mirrors his philosophy.”

I know the two examples are not like-for-like comparisons, but you decide.

P.S.: Personally, I feel the line would have sounded awful if it was Rajni chiththar paattu. So I thank Rajnikanth for getting it changed.

 

Of all the comments that I have come across concerning Dasavathaaram, this one was the best. The sentence in bold was ROTFL-ly funny.

From Shrinivas’ Seven Point Someone:

“The idol that is drowned in the sea along with Rangarajan in 12th century by Chozha king results in a fault being developed at the bottom of the ocean and creates tremors more than 800 years later. These tremors result in the Tsunami. This again is a classic case of Butterfly Effect wherein a seemingly inconsequential event (the drowning of the idol) saves Tamil Nadu from being wiped off the face of the earth.”

Kamal fans are making a fool of themselves by offering such explanations. Did any one give such stupid explanations when asked “How did the Ghilli team reach the finals after loosing in the semifinals of the Kabaddi Tournament?” This is probably the worst possible explanation for the 12th century bit. If drowning an idol into the ocean can cause a fault on the crust of the earth, then I kindly appeal to the Government of India to stop all the Vinayaka Chaturthi Processions because so many idols are drowned in the ocean. They may result in faults being formed on the crust of the earth and another Tsunami may be caused.

 

It was from a friend’s status message on Google Talk (“Chennaiyil oru bhookamba kaalam”) that I came to know that Chennai had felt the aftershocks of an earthquake that rocked the Andamans. Was glad to know that there was no damage reported to either life or property.

This is the fouth reported earthquake to hit Chennai in the last 7 years. (And during the 18-year period before that, I don’t think there was any.) And this is the fourth Chennai earthquake that I have missed. Of course, earthquakes are no fun, and I pray to God that I just keep this record going (and also, that there be no earthquakes at all!).

And though I have missed them all, here are my earthquake stories.

The first time I remember an earthquake struck Chennai was on January 26, 2001. It was a Saturday (and Republic Day as well), and that morning, my parents and I were visiting the famous Lakshmi Narasimha Swami Temple in Sholingur, about 100 kilometres from Chennai. You might recall that this was the same earthquake that devastated Gujarat – Bhuj, Anjaar etc.

The second time it happened was on September 25, 2001. The reason I remember the date well was because it was a Tuesday, and just two Tuesdays earlier, 9/11 had happened. (I think something happened on Tuesday September 18 as well, but I cannot recall what it was.) When the earthquake occurred, sometime between 8:30 PM and 9 PM, I was on my bike heading home from college. It was a minor quake, so I knew nothing about it. When I entered my street, I found that all my neighbours were on the street, standing just outside their compound walls.

You can picture the scene, it was as if the entire street was waiting to catch a glimpse of some VIP’s cavalcade. My first reaction was, and I am promise I’m not making this up, “Wow, have I won the Nobel Prize or something?” Remember, the houses were all intact; the people were outside chatting; it was dark, so I couldn’t make out their reactions, but they were all looking at me rather incredulously. I slowed down my bike a bit, and my next thought was that of the old Coca Cola ad for the Olympics – something to do with cyclists, and it ends with “Coca Cola salutes Olympics fans everywhere”. So I was trying to imagine myself as that gold medal-winning cyclist.

Well, all my hallucinations burst as soon as I made out that my mom and dad were on the street themselves. And then, much to my disappointment, the news was broken to me that the promised Nobel Prize wasn’t going to be mine.

The third occasion was the most tragic. It happened on the morning of December 26, 2004, which triggered the fatal Boxing Day tsunami that left almost 150000 people dead, and lots more shattered. The aftershocks were felt early in the morning, at around 6:30 to 7 AM. It being a Sunday, I was fast asleep (oh well, as if…!), so I did not feel a thing. My mom did recount later that she had felt something at that time, but had discarded it as a non-event.

The funniest part of that morning came before the news of the tsunami had broken. The folks at Sun TV were recording the 8 AM news broadcast about an hour earlier, and the newscaster, while reading the news, paused momentarily, and said, “Edho shake aaguthu… Shake aagara maadhiri irukku… Hey, illa, edho shake aaguthu…“, and then rushed away from the news desk. (“Something is shaking… I feel some shake… Hey, really, something is shaking…“)

The guy is actually a familiar face on Sun TV; I forget his name, some Rathnam, possibly. As this was just a recorded bulletin, they shot it again before 8, and it did not appear in the news. It was however broadcast an hour later when the first news story about the Marina being inundated was broken. It was funny, but the events of the morning left everyone feeling wretched. It did evoke some debate the next day at work whether the footage was for real or was stage-managed by Sun!

There was another interesting coincidence. The Friday before the tsunami, I found that there was a discussion on my company’s general bulletin board (relating to Poompuhar, I think), and someone had mentioned Dhanushkodi, the coastal town near Rameshwaram that was lost (submerged in sea) in the 1960s. Another person, hailing from Calcutta, had replied asking what Dhanushkodi was. I sent him a reply letting him know whatever I knew about Dhanushkodi (which, in fact, wasn’t much.) He replied back to me, and his message read thus: “Vijay, thanks for the reply. It seems as if the seas near Chennai are interested in gobbling up the land.” Less than 48 hours later, the Boxing Day tsunami happened.

Those are my earthquake stories; or rather how I missed them, or maybe, how they missed me. I reiterate, earthquakes are no fun, and I am thankful not to have had the misfortune of enduring one. The intention behind this post is not to sound unsympathetic or condescending to those who have been involved in one, directly or indirectly.

If you have an interesting earthquake-related incident, do share.

 

Yesterday, as I was heading to work in the morning, I was waiting at the intersection of two busy streets sandwiched amidst a group of 20 other people, for the signal to indicate “Walk”.

Suddenly, at the next light, a couple of cars came to a screeching halt and all of us turned to our right to see what had happened.

A second later, a middle-aged African American gentleman to my left said aloud “Yes, we can!” as if the middle of an Obama rally. Puzzled all of us turned around… only to hear him complete “… cross the road!” The “Walk” sign had come up.

 

Ever since I used a Kindle a couple of months ago, I have been meaning to write a post about it. But as with such “meaning to write” topics, this one never took off.

Seth Godin, marketing guru, has a fabulous post about the Kindle, and analyzes the product from different perspectives. A highly recommended read.

 

Some people, in fact, most people delight themselves by employing confounding jargon from time to time. Legal-ese and business-ese rhyme with disease and not without reason!

In a funny turn of events, British authorities have been warned against using words like synergies, stakeholders and sustainable communities because such terms confuse people. (To be honest, I don’t consider these words as some kind of confusing jargon. Or maybe I am in the irretrievable zone.)

CNN reports:

The list includes the popular but vague term “empowerment;” “coterminosity,” a situation in which two organizations oversee the same geographical area; and “synergies,” combinations in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Officials were told to ditch the term “revenue stream” for income, as well as the imprecise “sustainable communities.” The association also said councils should stop referring to local residents as “customers” or “stakeholders.”

 

A story I tell often.

There was this old rabbi somewhere in Russia, who would visit a synagogue near the town square every morning. Not a day had he skipped this routine. A policeman patroling the square did not like Jews, and he hated the sight of the rabbi passing him each morning. He wanted to insult the rabbi, and was waiting for an occasion.

One morning, as the rabbi approached the town square, the policeman walked up to him and asked, “Sir, may I know where you are going?”

The rabbi replied, “I don’t know.”

The policeman seized on this and said, “Old man, you are lying to me. I know you are going to that synagogue over there. I have seen you every day. I’m going to arrest you for lying to a member of the police force.”

And the policeman took the rabbi to the nearest police station and put him in one of the cells. As he was locking the door, the policeman proudly remarked, “Now, do you realize who is superior?”

The rabbi replied, “My son, I don’t know what wrong I have done. I told you I didn’t know where I was going.”

Jun 212008
 

A short while ago, I spotted a firefly (Tamil: minmini) outside my window. I don’t remember when last I saw a firefly; 15 years ago, maybe.

Almost instinctively, I started humming “indha minminikku kaNNil oru minnal vandhadhu.” (video)

 

Yesterday, President Bush issued a statement that Congress should lift the ban on offshore oil drilling off the US coastline. The best reason he could think of for this was the 4-dollar-a-gallon gas. Immediately, Senator McCain, who is increasingly looking like George Dubya Bush the Third, concurred with the President and thought offshore drilling is the way Americans can be saved from high oil prices. While public opinion might be slightly drifting towards this stupid idea, Senator Barack Obama stood his ground on the issue, discouraging the old style Washingtonian pandering of Bush-McCain.

The New York Times effectively settles the argument with a furiously hard-hitting editorial that criticizes Bush and McCain for selling out to big oil companies, that are already basking in record profits.

 

… is a company sans pareil. (Here’s one reason why.)

 

Today I heard someone talk about preserving the history and heritage of towns and cities. During this, he referred to the city of Chester, Pennsylvania. The city, it seems, had a historic sign (now taken down, sadly) which read “What Chester makes makes Chester.” Which quote bowled the listeners over.

This set met thinking on a quote and an anecdote on similar lines. The quote is attributed to Aristotle and popularized by software quality assurance managers when they send us programmers their bug reports and statuses. It goes thus: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is a habit.” I have always found it very inspiring (though the bugs just never seemed to abate).

The story is not as well-known. It relates to the first and the last verses of The Bhagavad Gita, which many consider as containing the definitive essence of Hinduism. The Gita starts with the words “dharma kshetre kurukshetre…” and ends with the words “… dhruva nitir matir mama.” Some scholars believe that there is a particular significance to the last and the first words of the Gita. When combined, it reads “mama dharma“, a literal translation of which is “my justice“.

The essence of the Gita is captured in verse 66 of chapter 18 (sarva dharmaan parityajya), which urges man to refrain from making judgments, and lead a full life by considering all his actions as leading to a surrender to God (maam ekam sharanam vraja). When seen in this light, the term mama dharma, argue some, must be interpreted as Lord Krishna telling His listener(s) “My life is my justice.”

I have come to realize that we spend an inordinate amount of time and energy in judging others, and weighing the theoretical aspects of problem. Consequently, we have very little time to act. This restricts our potential, and we end up sensing the gap between what could have been and what really is.

An idea that is succinctly put forth by Swami Vivekananda as follows…

“Don’t come here any more if you think any task too difficult. Through the grace of the Lord, everything becomes easy of achievement. Your duty is to serve the poor and the distressed without distinction of caste and creed. What business have you to consider the fruits of your action? Your duty is to go on working, and everything will set itself right in time, and work by itself. My method of work is to construct, and not to destroy that which is already existing….You are all intelligent boys and profess to be my disciples — tell me what you have done. Couldn’t you give away one life for the sake of others? Let the reading of Vedanta and the practice of meditation and the like be left for the next life! Let this body go in the service of others — and then I shall know you have not come to me in vain!”

(Thanks, Gokul, for the quote.)

 

Oregon has a city called Salem. Just came to know that there is also a Madras in Oregon. Now looking to see if there is a Thanjavur, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli or Rameswaram.

 

Vaazhthugal is the stupidest movie ever made. EVER!

 

Only in Philadelphia… will the trains run 15 minutes late on a clear, even hot summer evening in June, due to “weather-related” problems!

 

Senator Clinton listens as Chief of Naval Operations Navy Admiral Mike Mullen responds to a question during his 2007 confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee.Image via WikipediaAs we all know, Hillary Clinton will suspend her campaign tomorrow, and will endorse Senator Obama. I was wondering what she will say tomorrow, considering she has been bitter especially over the past few months.

I am not going to write out an entire speech here, but going by the way she has plugged for her website in the recent past, I bet she is going to say towards the end of her concession speech:

“And, by the way, remember to visit www dot hillary clinton dot com, and donate liberally!”

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