Listen to Lucky

Hats of Jhumpa Lahiri for such a beautiful story and Mira Nair for adapting the same in a very elegant manner. The story reveals around just 5-6 characters, but the picturisation is apt and to the point. Tabu (what a performance!!!), there are few performers who try not to overact/overreact, I can definitely rate her to be one. I still remember her performance in The Namesake resembled her underplayed role in Kandukonden KanduKonden. If i forget to mention the performances of Irfan Khan (another Om Puri in the making!!), it would be unjust and biased. He has come out with one of the best performances till date. His emotions as a survivor from the crash, the way he explains to Tabu about the new place, life style to the newly wed wife, explaining the reasons for namesake to his son, subtle expressions while hugging the "videshi Bahu". Irfan is absolute to watch. Tabu is class on her own. Very much lovable as a typical bengali girl, who aspires for a marriage, finding it diffic...

Yesterday, Myself and Guns teamed up with Krishnan and family to make a special darshan to "Mr Venky" a.k.a Lord Balaji (whose UK HQ is at Birmingham...). Being a Saturday, it would be both auspicious and also relaxed day to meet Venky. Unfortunately, the trains from reading to birmingham were cancelled due to the recent floods in Oxford. We started thinking that Mr Perumal has started his litmus test on us. We took the tickets and headed of to Euston to catch train to Sandwell and Dudley (which is UK equivalent of "keezha thirupathi". It was one of the annoying train journeys, i ever had my life where the whole journey took close to 5 hrs. ShivHari (Krishnan's son) was there to entertain us throughout the journey. After reaching Sandwell & Dudley, we took a cab driven by a sardarji (i believe there are equal number of "Sardar Cabbies" to "Nair Chaiwallahs") and reached TiviDale (equivalent of Tirumala). On entering the temple, we could s...

I didn't have a great dream like the one of Martin Luther King Jr, but today i had realised one of my dreams which i had visualised 25 years ago. Row 4, Seat 70, Mound Stand, The Lords cricket ground, watching the 3rd day's play between India and England. I never had better saturdays in my life than this one. This was the ticket which was issued to me at lords. One of the cherished possessions. After collecting my tickets at the counter, there was security check and we had a big queue to be checked before being allowed to witness the match. After the security checks, I passed the edrich and compton stands to reach the Mound stand. Row 4, Seat # 70, Mound Stand - I sat there in that place with so much of adamancy like karunanidhi (that for next 6 hours i was not ready to move away except for food and rain). India resumed the overnight innings with Ganguly (dada struggling a lot on seaming conditions and RP singh playing the night watchman's role). After the middle order coll...

I was deeply touched / emotional to hear (if not see the diplomatic guard of honour and farewell bestowed on Bharat Ratna Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam) who was introduced to me by Ram, in one of our discussions of Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles and the design and development of missiles and ammunitions (Agni/Prithvi/Akash/Trishul/Nag/MBT Arjun/Pinaki etc...). Till today, this amuses me that most of the defence related product development bears hindu mythology related names in sanskrit, i thank god, the so called secular forces never interferred with these as well. Born in a lower middle class family, a man who proved to this generation that education can definitely take you to places and education coupled with humility would take you even greater heights. I have read his books (Wings of fire and Ignited Minds) which can be treated as text books (the reason why i said to make it as text books, as i wanted it to be made as a must read one, as i feel the Gen-Next lost the ...

I had been to Isle of Wight (it is a tinly isle on the southern coast of England, south of reading, where i stay). i had joined along with sreedhar g & team to visit this exotic place called Isle of Wight. After my trip to Isle of Skye (which is on the western part of scotland), i love to spend my time/vacation in Isles. If you have a car and a caravan attached, these Isles are the best to visit. After starting off from Reading, we caught a virgin train to reach Southamption enroute to Brokenhurst. I had my memories of Phileas fogg reaching southampton on his way back home on 79-80th day in Jules Verne's novel which is a classic and one of my all time favourite. After reaching Brokenhurst, we took a vintage train to reach Lymington Pier to catch a ferry for the next hour drive. After my trip through Englisg Channel, travelling by a ferry is an interesting experience - add a latte and a good book, you would definitely enjoy the ride. We landed in yarmouth and from there we took ...

iGoogle - This could be one stop shop for all your day to day stuff you do on i-net. I loved it when clicked on igoogle (which is available on the classic version of google page (your normal google interface)). iGoogle offers you to customise your page to have your weather, news from reuters /WSJ /NYT, Play hangman, get technology updates like updates on Sony's PS3, apple's iPhone. You can also add and customise gadgets (this is how googlers call it) and add to receive latest blogs,podcasts etc. I have attached snapshot of my iGoogle, get your version by keeping your hands dirty.....hurry up....

Thanks to Geeman for tagging me and hailing me as a musical connoiseur. I have been planning to write an blog on music for a very long time and this was just a start from my favourites. I have tried to list down the best romantic duets in tamil films and here they are: TOP 10 romantic duets in tamil: Ulavum thendral katriniley - mandhiri kumari This was from the movie called mandhirikumari and this was one of the most romantic songs boat songs ever featured in B&W era. Probably doordarshan might be the only owner of this movie/print but still i enjoyed the tune (composed on the raag maandu which unfortunately tried in Iruvar's Narumugaye) and the tempo of the song set exactly as the tempo of the boat ride. MK radha one of the yesteryear actors was playing the negative shade in this movie had a brilliant portrayal. Maasile unmai kadhale - Alibaba and 40 thieves This was undoubtedly a masterpiece from the eastman color genre. This was one of the rare AM rajah - MGR combo (if not ...

I was literally amused by the way Azim Premji announced his son Rishad's arrival to take over the mantle from him. This was very much on the lines of the senior politicians in our country who initially will convey that their children will not step into politics or join their own party. But every party leader has his own son and daughter (latest to join in the list being "kanimozhi" for DMK/MK). I didn't understand this hypocracy of quoting that my children / i will not enter politics and step into the same after few years in a timely planned manner. The worst thing is that now software companies would follow the same as these munnetra kazhagams (which takes care of only their "munnetrams" and their families' munnteram). When I heard that rishad premji would be joining Wipro Munnetra Kazhagam, I was laughing at their Council's decision (Seyar Kuzhu mudivu...he he ellam namella edukarathu thaan...ketta Seyar Kuzhu...Sambhar Kuzhu nnu) I hope all these ...

Abbada !! The wait was over to see the superstar. We guys @ office made sure see the movie on the first day first show as a die hard idiot would die in india. Here i dont need to wait in long queues in hectic temperatures, just a click would do. Coming to the Point, Sivaji was technically a slick movie in Pan Indian standards (better to hundreds of desi hindi movies which still relies on multiple stars, family songs, foreign locales, plagaraised music and ofcourse amitabh bachan to appear in cameo. I was disappointed by the narration of second half in Sivaji by Sujatha (Rangarajan, noted writer and Shankar). Ideally even today i feel had rajni did Mudhalvan I would have enjoyed it lot more than this movie. But this was complimented by the first half, Vivek had a big part and had created a laugh riot for the first hour. The comedy was pretty decent and short of double entendres (except for the "Adi/kabodhi" scene. I was not convinced about the main theme of Black Money Hoardin...

I was reading "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L friedman and this would be one of the most cherished books of my personal collection. In one the chapters, when he discusses the case of Ellsworth vs Yahoo, he brings out a beautiful point. Excerpts from the Book: On November 13, 2004, Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth, twenty, was killed by a roadside bomb during a foot patrol in Iraq. On December 21, 2004, the Associated Press reported that his family was demanding that Yahoo! give them the password for their deceased son's e-mail account so they could have access to all his e-mail, including notes to and from others. "I want to be able to remember him in his words. I know he thought he was doing what he needed to do. I want to have that for the future," John Ellsworth, Justin's father, told the AP. "It's the last thing I have of my son." We are moving into a world where more and more communication is in the form of bits traveling through cyberspace ...

I also have few projects of my own and "Param" is one for which i have dedicated atleast last 4-5 months. 29th of May 2007 would be marked in my calendar as one of the darkest days of My life as I ended up with yet another failed attempt to scale new peaks. I was happy about "TOD" (Technical Order Decomposition) went into production and getting live the previous week with few hiccups in the morning. The project was of massive scale which required 1800 man days and the best part of mine was to step into the Matt's (principal designer) shoes and execute it under critical conditions in the absence of Matt K. Though it would take few days for me to recover from Param, Param would be still under consideration and will be executed one day sooner/later. ~Lakshman

I was just going through the Hindu this morning and came to know that one of the XII std girl has committed suicide because of the fear of low marks scored in the recent examinations. Ever since the board exams came in mid eighties (if my memory is right, it was introduced by MGR govt in 1984), there is unusual tension which percolates to even the 80 year old granny in a family where one of the kids apperaing for the board exams (to scare somebody call it "public exams"). Are we producing Ramanujams and Ramans by these exams?. The max thing which would be brought by these exams are the corner seats allocated in the AIR 13 (thats my favourite room in REC trichy) for the so called elite students who keep mugging / reading things by heart (dabba adiakrathu / mug adikarathu in layman's parlance). I used to make fun about people (who keep mugging things as sukkumi-laguthi-ippli instead of sukku-milagu-thippili). I always like to provide instances to substantiate my reasoning. ...

It would be strange if you read and interpret the title, this is one which i have been nurturing in my neuro-barn for a while. I still remember my discussions on the lawns of bishop heber, with my friend Subramanian (Sup) and my lineage to work with few NGOs and do something worthful in my life. But when I moved out of my academic pursuits, i had my own compulsions of making money and i am still in the process of making it as many people around me. But there is a compulsion within myself for which i don't have enough answers at this point of time to address them. I have been in my shell (which resembles the cave in cast away island) and i keep contemplating for months (nalla velai...i didn't go to Tiruvannamalai as shri ramana...though even i had questions of who am i. i believe only sadhus and jackie chan might know an answer for this question...ha ha) There are always many things which i have received and i feel that i have been fortunate among the lot who accepts the life wh...

I just told in one of my earlier posts that i had a passion to play Black Piano and I was cribbing that i couldn't buy one. But i was fortuntate to be invited by my friend Manju to her college and we had a great time playing piano and debating about MS Swaminathan and his vision. Thanks to Manju for providing me an opportunity to play a Yamaha Piano (which was available on Imperial college, London). Another one....I was playing Raja's Illam Kaathu Veesuthu and singing the same... Her college was situated in a beautiful serene environment. We had lengthy discussions about consumerism and its environment impacts and had a nice lunch (she got me couscous ..i don't know what it is but it was cute... (It is a moroccon dish made from semolina base - thanks to Subramanian for giving me the etymological reasons behind the dish. Sup (Thats how we call him, always has an answer to all these unknown fundas in life. I can write a separate blog with my interactions with Srirangam Gang....

“The aim and final reason of all music should be nothing but the glory of God and the refreshment of spirit.” - i often wondered this quote by JS Bach - whether he referred to our carnatic music. I was listening to Dwijavanti (the raaga) in different forms and i was fascinated finally to conclude by a famous lyric "Kanneer Thuligal Thaan Kalaigalin Vegumanam". Though Rishivani's janyaraaga - "Kiravani" is my all-time favourite among the raagas, Dwijavanti is slowly catching up with kadhanakudhuhalam and kaapinarayani. The best part of this raaga,it sets up the melancholy mood for the song. For few friends of mine, who cannot unerstand what a raaga is ? - It is basically a scale of notes but it has to to be sung with the proper bhava /moods to induce the listener. I still remember, i was hooked for the first time when i listened to "Chetasri Balakrishnam" composed on Dwijavanti by our well know Madurai Mani Mama. Incidentally Dwijavanti is very much lik...

I have been thinking on life and markets all the time and all of sudden i realised there are lot of common things which could be associated. The title - Lifex was abbreviated form of my life's index (which goes every week up and down). Though I am not Bernaud Baumohl, to list all the indicators as he quotes in his famous book. It all started this way, when i started sometime back to question, am i feeling good / bad compared to yesterday / last week / last year. Definitely, when you compare the living standards, salary, wealth, education (or) which is quantifiable /measurable, we would have definitely progressed. But when u compute all the parameters, few of them could be intangible, which can bring your up / down. As we have 30 stocks that determines sensex's performance, I just thot of identifying few stocks (idnetifiers) which would determine by Lifex's performance. Career Wealth Family Health Morale Vision knowledge spirituality Entertainment and self-realisation. The a...

The last week in cricket was eventful with many exits and the greatest of all was Brian charles Lara's retirement from ODIs and which marks as a prelude to hang the curtains of his cricketing career, one of the fabulous cricketers along with Tendulkar, Akram, Warne, Murali and Walsh et al, i have seen in my during my living years. I would be talking with pride to my grandchildren as my uncles talk about richards / vishy about the exploits of Lara's single-handed demolition of / Sachin's swashbuckling "operation desertstorm" in 98' / Warne's ball of the century. Lara's cricket has brought enough joy to me, who signalled his arrival with a magnificent 277 at sydney (he named his daughter as sydney after that knock...) The one thing which i admired with Lara / sampras / lance armstrong / sergei bubka is their appetite to win and challenge their own records and the way lara jumped and pumped his fist after he got his record back from hayden stands testimo...

If I would be regretting a decision at the end of my stay in UK, it would be my decision for not buying my Yamaha E403 keyboard (could be E303 would do...even). I tried to resist my temptation of not visiting "Dawsons" the music shop in reading till yesterday, finally decided to enter the shop only to come out with tears which would have expressed my inability to carry back a keyboard (a Priced Posesssion) back to India. "Price Does Matter" - but i never found a way to carry back due to the restrictions of baggage/weight in Heathrow. Though there is an option to sell it back here (which i never would do, as it is valuable to me not in terms of price, but for other reasons). But this is one of my agenda to get a decent 61 keyboard once I am in India and start my lessons with musee musicals / Promusic in chennai. I have been longing to get a decent KB right from my 5th std in school, but unfortunately now i can afford to buy one, but i cannot take it back. That left m...

Hats off to Prakash Raj and Radha Mohan to come out with yet another decent movie. I just saw Radha Mohan's Mozhi, which is a simple tale of love between a musician Karthik / Babu (played by Prithivraj Sukumaran) and a deaf and dumb girl Archana (played by Jothika). Movie is pretty crisp in narration and free from cliches of the way they showed a deaf and dumb characters earlier in movies. The lead pair was beautifully supported by Prakash Raj, Swarnamalya, Bhaskar and Brahmanandham (famous telugu comedian). Viji's dialogues are apt and pretty straight from the heart. The use of Sign language was brilliant (even i wish i could learn after seeing the movie). Vidyasagar's music was class and particularly the piece "en jannalil" and Kannal pesum penne (remade from his own malayalam piece "walking in the moonlight"). Prakashraj who churns out meaningful and decent movies from his stable and I loved his previous ventures of Kanda Naal mudhal and Azhagiya thee...

This is not a detailed account of my visit to edinburgh, highlands and Skye. I have just captured my kodak moments of the tour and posted the selected ones for you. The castle on the background is the famous edinburgh castle. Frontal view of the Edinburgh Castle. This captures scenic beauty of Glen Coe. I tried my best to capture the misty mountains (Inspired by PC's work in Idhayathai Thirudathey...) Solitary House on the hill ...I wish i owned one... Myself sitting on the banks of Atlantic Ocean...it was a wonderful feeling...thanks to my geography teachers to touch and feel atlantic. Another marvellous scenic place in Skye. There were strong winds blowing in this region and one of the best shots. This was the shot I dreamt through out my journey. Inspired from Kandukondein Kandukondein song from the same movie where Eilean Donan Castle appears in the backdrop of the song. I spent 1/2 hr to pick the same location and the shot. Next time when u see the song, do see this pic. Mysel...