Ramblings of a madman

Circa 1965, Anandha Vikatan office. Neelakandan had been writing for over a year in the Anandha vikatan weekly under the pen name Komalam. It was was the series' first anniversary. Everyone were congratulating him as he was leaving office. "Vaazhthukkal Oi! Unga thodar nalla poitirukku, Bonus laan vangirkeer, enna panna poereer?" "Radio ku license laan vangiyachu oru varushathukku. Murphy radio with Leather bag" "Sabaash, evalo?" "500 rupees" *with a huge gasp* "Adhengappa, Ceylon radio laan kekalame" "Aama aama", Neelakandan replied with pride Neelakandan was so happy that he finally had a radio of his own. He need not go to his friends' place to listen to olichittiram of his favorite Balachander movies and listen to his favorite hindi songs in Binaca Geetmaalik. He was imagining everything in his mind and was walking to Standard electronics in thiruvellikeni. Picture courtesy Radioactivity "Enna sir...

  சமீபத்தில் வேலை நிமித்தமாக தமிழ்நாட்டில் உள்ள சில பகுதிகளை கடந்து செல்ல நேர்ந்தது. காணும் இடம் யாவும் ப்ளாஸ்டிக் குப்பைகள். கடவுள் எங்கும் இருக்கிறாரோ  இல்லையோ, ப்ளாஸ்டிக் எல்லா இடங்களிலும் தென்படுகிறது எங்கெல்லாம் மனிதன் செல்கிறானோ அங்கெல்லாம் ப்ளாஸ்டிக். மதுரையில் குளங்கள் இருக்கவேண்டிய இடங்களில் வறண்ட மண்ணையே காண நேர்ந்தது. அப்படியே அதில் நீர் இருதுந்தாலும் அதிலும் ப்ளாஸ்டிக் குப்பைகள், மேலே மிதந்தவாறு. திருபரங்குன்றத்தில் உள்ள ஓர் நீர்நிலையே அதற்கு சான்று. ஸ்ரீவில்லிபுத்தூரிலிருந்து திருநெல்வேலி போய்கொண்டிருந்தபோது என் நண்பன் விசேஷ் சொன்னான்,  "என்னடா இது highwayன்னு சொல்றாங்க ஆனா இவ்ளோ வெளிச்சமா street lights இருக்கு"  அவன் தமிழ் நாட்டின்  ஒவ்வொரு மூலையிலும் எப்படி வளர்ச்சி தெரிகிறது என்பதை சுட்டிக்காட்டினான். போகும் இடம் எல்லாம் 3G connectivityஆகவே இருந்தது. ராஜபாளையம் சென்றடைந்ததும் முதலில் தென்பட்டது, சாலையோடு ஓடிகொண்டிருந்த ஒரு கால்வாய். குளங்களில் தாமரை மலர்கள் மறைப்பது போல்...

On my way to work today morning, the skies opened up and it was pouring heavily. While I was walking in the rain with an umbrella, my backpack worn like a front-pack over my 3 feet luggage that is my belly, to get across to the place where I would get the share auto I was reminded of something. I was reminded of a similar thunderstorm that occurred almost the same time last year. A Ship had hit the shores towards the Besant Nagar beach and then drifted towards Marina beach near the Light house due to the cyclone "Nilam" The ship that hit shores, as seen from the marina beach Me and my friend had went there to catch a glimpse of the Ship on an early Sunday morning. We got the glimpse of the ship and carefully navigated away through the pieces of shit left over by the locals, like mines in that of a minesweeper game. I've always heard that Pattinampakkam aka Foreshore Estate had a beach. I wanted to visit that place, something other than the usual Marina, Bessy an...

  On November 24th 2013 one of my childhood fantasies came true. When I were a child, my father and mother would take me to the Marina during Sundays. I fondly remember the days when the Marina's shore would be so long and we would be endlessly walking towards the mirage that are the waves. With not even one fourth of the way through I would ask my vertically challenged mother to pick me up and carry me. She, with all her might would carry me halfway through. I would get restless with a sea of crowd blocking my view of the ocean and ask my 6 foot tall father to lift and place me on his shoulder to give me a towering view above the rest. It was always fascinating for me to get a towering view of the ocean. While going back I would notice the tower structure standing tall and would ask my father to get me up there. He would say we cannot go there and I would cry like a bitch till he bought me "kuchi ice" from the local vendor. I then grew up to realise that it was rest...

  First of all this not a review. A review is something which is done after carefully observing everything in a movie. It should be of service to the film maker and not be a mere guide to the movie goers whether to watch it or not. Only that will elevate the art. Let us set that aside for some other day. Mine is just an impression of what I thought as I was watching and after watching the movie. The film started off with Arya telling the tale of love in two different worlds. Usually the characters in a Selvaraghavan film has lots of detailing and have shades of grey. But in this movie he has failed to do so, as it is totally unclear as to who Arya actually is, a mathematics professor or a Surgeon or a social activist. It is also unclear as to whether it is a hospital or a home of disowned people and children. We are constantly being bombarded with the patients acting so jovial with Arya around and he pretty much has free access to everywhere in the hospital, even the operation...

   Travelling is something I really like to do. There are two kinds of travel, travel just for the sake of travelling and then travelling for official purpose. I hate the latter so much. I used to watch Dora the explorer while I was taking care of my, then 8 year old cousin. I badly wanted to induce some fun into to my boring life. What I did was follow a pattern that is followed in Dora the explorer while travelling back from my office to home. I call it "Venkatadora - The explorer"   After making sure that no one had a clue what i was doing, I was wondering what to play as the Venkatadora song. Dora would sing "VAnga nanbargaLe! Ellorum onna povom! Muyarachi thiruvinai aakum! MuyandrAl sAdhikka mudiyum! Enga nAmA porom? *clap clap clap* Poli Venkateshawara Boli stall ku "   But the Venkatadora is badass, keeping that poker face "hey come on!" kinda guy. So I played "Brock Lesnar's entrance theme on my phone and walked all the way ...

         During one of those Share Auto rides back home from the exam centre near Panagal park, I was wondering, we always look the world through our eyes. How would it look from someone else's perspective?" Like always I drifted from the deep 'We should put ourselves in others shoes' to "I am so bored let me hate this guy" mode. I was trying to catch the mind voices of people and guess what would they be thinking. Pardon the language, there is absolutely no censorship to the mind.   Hmm! Lets start with the Auto driver who was honking continously when the Share Auto driver was picking people up at the signal. There is some legit heat between the Auto and Share Auto drivers because the share autos were putting auto drivers out of business. The Auto driver must be thinking  "Dei Baadu! I let you in my house and you corrected my wife and you're running with her! thoo"  One should understand the metaphors from that by lifting the Kasam...