Back to the grind

Deep Trance Snapshots: Back to the grind


Stone and water - co-conspirators in the war against rice

Deep Trance Snapshots: Death of a wind chime

Deep Trance Snapshots: Death of a wind chime

Breeze made it chime
Storm killed it
Excess is fatal

Maa

(Follow up to Taare Zameen Par)

The rawest of my emotions that I can still recall at short notice is the sense of desolation I felt as a 9 year old when my parents left me at my grandparents' for summer vacation. A lump formed in my throat when I did some sort of a goodbye ritual to the people I took for granted - parents and a toddler of a little sister. The feeling compounded when my grandparents too had to go out of town for some wedding or the other. Secretly, I blamed my parents for not insisting that I come with them.

The days were actually okay - there was lots to do - play, play and play to heart's content. It was the evenings that made my tear glands work out a little. Beloved uncles and aunts were of no consolation - I needed the comfort zone of my mother and familiar scenes around the house. I vaguely remember feeling a little better with the return of the grandparents but the dull ache returned with alarming regularity every evening around dusk time. Even a month of this did not make me immune.

The salad days of late teens, college, self-absorbed days in the outside world with my own money, the wide wide world with many distractions, new indulgences, all consuming jobs, adulthood, new country, new people, my own family, new responsibilities all led to a rugged hide. Or so I thought until I heard the strands of the song 'Maa' in 'Taare Zameen Par'. Wonderfully conceived, this song is the soul of the movie, in my opinion. The parents leave the troublesome child in a boarding school to discipline him. It catches the vulnerability of the child and the desolation he feels when plucked out of a comfort zone. It reminded me that I still possessed those tear glands.

Bhej na itna dhoor mujhko tu...

Yaad bhi thujko aa na paaon ma

Kya itna bhura hoon main ma?

One more reason why I connected with TZP.

Crap Talk with Karadi

This blog (and Karadi) - not for the easily offended.

We tried answering some cosmic spiritual cultural questions with potty humor.

Why do people keep saying Holy Shit !!!! and not Holy Piss !!???

(in true thalaivar style) Onnu Paerusa Illa Rendu Paeursa?

Pullarikuthu Maams ..... Enna Porutha Varaikum Rendu Thaan...But that's my problem and weakness ......

There is Holy COW but no Holy Tiger...

got milk?

Puli Paal kudichu valandha kudumbangal irukke!

Or its just me hearing voices .....

Logic. If there were a holy tiger it would eat the holy cow. So only cow and no tiger.

There is Holy Crap but no Holy Waste

Holy rule states that nothing shall exceed Holy. Waste has one letter more than holy and ceases to be holy.

What's holy in calling something holy? And in most of the slang holy indicates something vulgar and unholy.
What's this called in English? A word itself is its "antonym"...

How profound... Holy Moly!

Catch-22 in Catch-22

It hasn't been love at first sight. I bought my copy of Joseph Heller's world famous novel more in a 'have to' fashion rather than a 'want to' one. Since then it has become an off-again on-again affair. Approaching ten years since the day I bought it, I am yet to complete reading it even once. Heck, I haven't even gone past ten chapters. I invariably get stuck at the point where the whole 'Catch 22' emerges in the narrative. Maybe there is a psychological barrier there. I bought it to find out what exactly Catch 22 was - those days before Wikipedia and broadband Internet! I now know what Catch 22 is and probably don't care what happens in the novel beyond that.

"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," [Yossarian] observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed."

 

I also read MASH around the same time and in fact completed it - being a big fan of the TV series. Maybe I need the extra dumb down reference point that movie/TV offers for intelligent literary material. An uncle of mine also made the observation that while MASH and Catch-22 are clever anti-war satires, Catch-22's satire is a lot more subtle and every reading reveals new meanings. Maybe the intelligence of the novel intimidates me at some level... The book is in elite company though - I have volumes of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace and Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan right beside it - fresh and unread.

Catch-22 is like a comfort friend. Whenever I run out of books to read, I know that I'll always have Catch-22. If I finish reading it, however, I cease to have that comfort... Catch-22 is my own Catch-22 I guess!

Robokanth

Not in my wildest imaginations did I have dear old superstar in a science fiction movie titled 'Robot'. I mean he did feature in the first live-action cum animation song sequence - Raja Chinna Roja. He is also poised to release what is probably India's first main stream animation movie for adults in Sultan sometime in 2009. Yet, to have a full fledged science fiction movie with thalaivar in the lead role is a little hard to digest. The need to satisfy the fans' appetite supercedes every other aspect of the movie. A science fiction movie without a plausible story would be tough to conjure up.

What will the story line be?

It is my firm belief that Shankar, who claims this to be his dream project, is a template director (See my earlier post - click here). Given the amount of money that is likely to ride on this project, he will not stray away from his trusted template. So, we will have a science-fiction/anti-corruption theme riding on the super star bandwagon. It smells like Robocop - Rajini style!

Reflecting back... way back

I catch Monk whenever I can. Tony Shalhoub has perfected the characters nuances. The story line is very much in the  Agatha Christie mould.  Probably that's why I like it so.

Anywise, there was this one episode where Monk recollects a painful memory from his childhood to his therapist. Monk recalls a man dressed in white, Monk himself was naked, there is a lady screaming in the background and there is blood everywhere. The therapist starts freaking out before he realizes that Monk is actually recollecting his own birth. Monk is relieved but the therapist is probably experiencing more relief at this point. It is almost impossible for anyone to recollect their own birth - but for Monk - "well it is both a gift and a curse"!

One dull flight and I was trying to recollect my own earliest childhood memory. I remember my first day in school - vaguely. I remember rushing to the window to see my mom and her entourage leave. I have one other memory - getting almost hit by a two-wheeler in Karaikaal. However, I am not sure which happened first. While dwelling on this, I also recalled a painful fact. The first word I learnt to read on my own was... "Office" (sigh!). The school office in P.S.Senior had this word in big letters and I usually waited there for the school bus. No excuse but that was my first word. Should I somehow put it in my resume?

Happy New Year

Man... I am  in the wrong decade. I like ABBA!

Thank you firerobin for posting this video on your blog.