Books – Jan last week

All books that win booker are need not be good for everyone. I realised this when I tried to read The Road by Comac McArthy. I have had a overdose of post apocalypse fiction. Still, this book has pages and pages of nothingness and a weird (original?) writing style. The father and the son keep walking. The father protects the son. This is all that happened for the first half and I got fed up with it. It is one of the few novels I have left in between (Usually I feel time is like money and since I”ve invested so much time reading half a novel, we tend to finish it just for that). There is nothing happening and I think even the most literary of novels should have plot and story and I hate the static stagnant stories which is exactly what this was – the characters, setting, plot never changed from page 1 to 150.

At last read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Loved it. It is a story of how the thin veil of civilization deteriorates. Each character represents one facet of us and yet it isn’t the too much philosophy little story type of literary fiction. It’s about how people are influenced and how leaders are born and how they use the basic desires and fears and manipulate them. It’s a master piece about human psychology.

Watched the movie ‘The Mist’ (based on book by Stephen King) which is again about what people will do when they turn afraid and how scared people are so easily manipulated. The ending was awesome and definitely unexpected.

I have bought Sivagaamiyin Sabatham (by the best author ever  ) and Kanniyakumari (by Jeyamohan whom I’ve read loads about. The one who wrote the story on which Naan Kadavul movie is based). Waiting to read them.

IR —- My favourites

Disclaimer: I have limited knowledge of music. Limited to listening to it with my ears and heart open and shutting off my mind:) So don’t expect any musical technicalities in here:). Read tfm pages if you want such details. This is not who is better or who is worse. This is about what I like and what I don’t.

I am a hardcore IR fan. And I was and still am an ARR fan too (much of the former though). I read loads of stuff posted online comparing the two legends. The only commonality between them is that both are musical genuises. Other than that fact and the fact that each of them revolutioned and changed people’s taste and have a musical expression for any thing any story teller could give them and an eternal, perenneial well of creativity. Other than these aspects they are, imho poles apart. This post isn’t about comparing these legends. I am much happier enjoying the marvels they produce wihtout sounding cocky and trying to measure their genius. I guess only people in their league can compare and tell who is better and such people never do that for they know one true art piece cannot be matched against another let alone the artists. This is just my humble post about why I like IR’s music.

* The first aspect I really admire is that IR’s music is mostly Indian and Tamil. The regional flavor isn’t a limitation. Any art form should have an identity(imho as always). One thing I don’t like about ARR is that he sticks to his Hi-fi instruments and sounds even in rural and karnatic songs (both of which are rarities anyways in his music).

*He composed western based songs too but added so much of indian flavour to it, which became his signature for songs like Ilaya Nila pozhigirathu (Listen to this on your Ipod at night, sitting on the beach, watching the sea and the moon!). He composed Carnatic raga based songs and even attempted so many succesful experiments like the aarohanam only song Kalaivaniye (breathtaking! All songs in this movie Sindhu Bairavi are absolute classics), Rural folk songs like Machana paatheengala (his first song!) or rual love song like Inji iduppazhagi (which I was listening to when I started writing the post:). I love the simple, rustic tune. So simple lines, so much of love expressed so beautifully with all the fervour of Tamil folk still intact- beautiful lyrics- esp ‘ponna vanaththinilae paeda kuyil koovayilae unnudaya vedhanaya naan arinchen’ (Can the longing for the loved one be expressed more beautifully!) – Was amazed to know that IR was inspired by a SD Burman tune for this song! He openly declared he was going to do a song with that tune it seems. Turning a bollywood song to a tamil folk!)

* Instead of simply listing the genres, I want to share my favourite songs for the various themes and emotions (Along with my ARR fav for few theme too):

• Mother’s love – I guess this is IR’s favourite theme. I like the universal favourite Amma endrazhaikkatha (kudos to Yesudas too! ). But my favourites in this theme from IR are: Chinna Thaai aval from Thalabathy – Mani Ratnam picturises it so beautifully in B & W and the places where it comes as BG moves one to tears. Wonderful lyrics too. And there was a movie made named  Guna, one of the best that was ever made and one of the most underrated classics ever. And in that movie there is a song -’Unnai Naan Ariven‘. Though only a minor portion of it is sung by the mother character in the movie, it is too moving. Karpoora Bommai Onru from Keladi Kanmani – Susheela’s voice makes it more beautiful. And my ARR favourites in this category are: Uyirum Neeye (What a rendering by Unnikrish!) and Azhagu Malare from Pavithra. These are rare ARR songs in the sense that he uses mostly the voices and not instruments.
• Tragedy – There could be so many sub categories. But I have clubbed them to this. Will Nayagan have ever been a the same without IR’s voice singing the theme ‘Then pandi cheemayile‘. Kamal’s version of the song is evocative too. Some IR fans say they hear his sad songs when they’re depressed and it is so soothing. He has composed loads of them. I remember only few now. ‘Sangeetha Jaadhi mullai‘ (He uses SPB for all the toughest of his songs  and SPB delivers each time! I wish this combo would continue to produce more songs together, though it’s been years since IR used SPB) . Yenge Sellum Intha Paathai is equally poignant. Poo malai vaangi vanthal is about the fall of a famous man – tragedy beautifully expressed. Kalyana maalai is a song which is so  sad in a subtle way. Vaanam thottu ponaa from Devar magan. Thagida thajimi from Salangai oli.
• Intoxication over the Female Form – I have given funny name for this genre . It’s my most favourite IR tune which is his favourite too as he has remade it in four languages including Gum Sum Gumm in Paa. It is the beautiful Sangathil Paadatha Kavidhai (it’s Mallu version Thumbi Vaa which is a happy happy song showing a family with two kids is the sweeter form of this intoxicating number). Lyrics (by Vaali?) are the best of its kind, being so sensuous without becoming vulgar. eg: ‘Aadai yen un meni azhagai aathikkam seikindrathu. Naalaikkay aananda viduthalai kaanattum kaanatha uravai’. The so called lyricists of today with their lewd vulgar double meanings should learn the art of subtlety.

• Disillusioned – Ooratherunchikkitteyn – one of the most philosophical Thalaivar number.
• Love – Young Love - Kaadhal Oviam, Aananda Raagam Kaetkum Kaalam, Unakku Piditha paadal (Though the song comes without context in the movie), Oliyili therivathu
• Love – The Beloved - Kanne Kalamane, Nee Paartha Paarvaikoru Nandri, Nee Paadhi Naan Paadhi, Endan Nenjil Neeengatha, En iniya pon nilaave
• Love – The Lost Love – Unna Ninachen Paattu Paduchen, Putham Puthu poothatho, Un kuthama
• Love- The Lost Beloved – Anbe vaa arugile
• Love – The Dream - Ninaivo Oru Paravai, Senorita, Kanmaniye kaadhal enbathu, Senthoorappove, Kodiyile Malliga poo, Vaa vennila unnaithane, Oh Butterfly, Andhi mazhai pozhigirathu, Thogai Ilamayil (very different kind of song), Valaiosai, Innum ennai enna seyya
  
• Love – The Celebration – Poongathave Thaal Thiravaai (From Nizhalgal – again full of good songs), Poo malaiyae thol serava (Superb Lyrics, lovely melody with his signature counterpoints and of course IR’s voice!), Nee Oru Kaadhal Sangeetham (What a movie! What a song!), Pani Vizhum malarvanam, Idhazhil Kadhai Ezhuthum Neram, Kannukkul Nooru Nilava, Thendral vanthu ennai thodum, Adi aathadi ila manasonnu, Sirpi Irukuthu , Yae paadal onru
• Love – The Yearning - Rasaathi Unna Kaanadha Nenju (All time Fav! Beautiful voice, female version is equally good. Most songs in this movie are fabulous. Visuals are horrible! ), Kaatril en Geetham (From Johnny which is the my most favourite album ever!), Manram vantha thendralukku , Yamunai aatrile , Mannil intha kaadhal andri, Kaadhalin Deepam onru, Enna satham intha neram (wow!), Poova eduthu oru malai, Oorusanam, Poongatru Thirumbumaa
• Love – The Intimate - Meendum Meendum Vaa, Aasaiya Kaathulla Thoothuvittu (Don’t know if this comes under this category. It’s more of item number), Maasi maasam aalana (Deva copied the beats for kattipudi kattipudida)
• Lullaby – Thooliyile aada vantha, Oh Paapa Laali (its sung to put the lover to sleep).
• Love – The Despair – Oh Priya Priya.
• Love – Rustic – Inji Idupazhagi. Maanguyile Poonguyile. ARR’s good ones in this genre are Raasathi (from thiruda thiruda) and Aathangara Maramey.
• Love – Sweet – Sundari Neeyum, Unna Vida (from Virumaandi), Kanmani anbodu, Nee thoongum Nerathil
• Love – The Kiss – Om Namaha song from Idhayathai Thirudathey – He uses heart beat like rhythm and beautiful picturisation by Mani ratnam.
• Nature - Ithu Oru pon Maalai Pozhuthu, Ilaya Nila Pozhigirathu, Kodai kaala kaatre,
  
• Joy – Fountain of Youth – Oh oh Megam Vanthatho , Rojappoo , Aathadi Ammadi Thaen Mottu- (All three are heroine introduction songs in mani ratnam movies:)), Ithu oru nila kaalam, Raja Rajathi Rajan Intha Raja, Vidiya Vidiya. Megam kottattum, Ilamai Itho itho
  
• ‘Item’ Numbers – Aasai Nooru Vagai (Best of the genre ever), Nila Adhu Vaanathu Melay – Again great lyrics – ‘Pasikithu Pasikithu Thinam Thinam thaan pusicha pasi athu neengedutha’ . Rakkamma Kaiyya Thattu – Can anyone else put a classical piece into an item number?:), Aattama, Chinna Rasave, Nethu Raathiri, En jodi manja kuruvi (his version of Jewish Hava nagila)
• Life – Meaning – Isaiyil Thodanguthamma (from Hey Ram. Simply awesome. Mesmerising! Sung by Pt. Ajoy Chakraborthy), Appanendrum Ammai yendrum (From Guna), Pichai Paathiram (Bala is my favourite director and this song moves anyone to tears)
• The Playboy – Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai from Netrikan (maybe one of Rajni’s most memorable roles) – He makes the song convey the excessive naughtiness,  sung by SPB.
• Bacchanalian Orgy - Namma Singari Sarakku, Thanni Thotti Thedi vantha (Though it’s also tragedy), Sorgam Madhuvile – Best of the genre
• Betrayal – Ennadi Meenakshi , Unakenna melay Nindrai
• Misc- Then madurai vaigai, Annathe aaduraan, Konji Konji, Anjali Anjali
  I have missed out thousands. These are simply ones that came to my mind now. Please add your own IR favourite in comment.

Books in recent months

Have not been updating here about the books I’ve been reading. Very short reviews of the ones I have read in past few months:

• Life of Pi – Yann Martel — Magical writing, a story of hope and miracles. I thought it got bit sluggish in places and a bit depressing, but I guess they’re part and parcel of any survival novel. There is a part about an algae island which was just did not connect with rest of the story. The character is supposedly a Tamilian and there are so many absurdities in the setting that I observed when it came to the regional aspects – for instance I don’t know even one tamil guy who has the name Patel.   Still  It’s a mesmerizing read. Some interesting info about the name Richard Parker – Click here
• Two States – Chetan Bhagat- The man in news often in recent times has penned down an exaggerated and obviously masala added version of what could have been his own story. He is often criticised for being too masala type with not much literary merit. But  I think he is achieving what so many Indian writers before him failed : He is compelling people to read novels – a habit so lacking in most of us Indians. We’re too stuck with movies and maybe that’s why this guy writes stories that play in your mind just like movies. It was a joyous read and in places you’re sure to have a loud laugh (if you won’t be offended by his digs at Tamils and Punjabis). Entertainment should be the prime aspect of fiction and in that this book delivers 100 %. His low pricing also alleviates the need to buy pirated copies or beg friends who have bought the book (which is what I used to do for most other books before I joined a lending library)
• Lisey’s story- Stephen King- Of course for reasons I cannot understand, I am so addicted to his writing. If you have never read him I would suggest NOT to start with this one. It is immensely slow and repetitive and sluggish for around 250 pages. It took all my patience to keep reading. The events are ‘remembered’ so many times by the main character (Lisey) who is the wife of a famous author Scott Landon. But patience did pay off. This is a tender love story at its heart. ‘Can there be such a strong love?’ I pondered at places. But do not expect the mushy, happily ever after from the master of horror. Maybe he took a vow that he would include horror in all his books. This one has a lot of it: the ‘monsters’ and mysteries of Booya Moon, though well thought out aren’t scary, but what happens in Scott’s childhood, to him, his brother and father, that is dark horror. He succeeds in making us hate his father and love him at the same time. Characterisation as I always say is King’s forte. All characters live with you long after you finish reading the novel. This novel addresses so many emotions: grief, loss, love and yes lots of love. But Scott is dead right from first chapter and this fact takes some chunk of interest in few parts of the story. Scott’s narration about his childhood is the best part, the most horrific, yet it’s King at his best when he narrates the story of a kid making sense of an endless tragedy, a kid living through things we cannot dream of and there also there is so much love beneath the horror. Apart from the fact that this novel should have had 300 lesser pages, this is a good story.

Now I want to list few books I am thinking of reading in the following months(hopefully).  Most of the books as you will notice are by Kalki. I can go on and on about this magical writer. I have read his Ponniyin Selvan which is his most popular work. His writing style is very simple and yet is rich in the sense that he paints the scene so vividly in our minds, using simple language which never hinders the flow of the story. The characters are so memorable and realistic : Vanthiyadevan, Kundavi, Nandhini, Arulmozhivarman, Sundara cholan and Pazhavettaraiyar (You’ll get used to the name as you read the story:)). The story revolves around themes like friendship, patriotism, love, revenge, duty. I will challenge anyone to read just the first book of this 2500 page epic and leave it at that. It is almost addictive and I remember how sad I felt when I finished reading for beyond a point, you’d want to spend time there with the characters in the picturesque chola empire. Each dialogue is so beautifully crafted especially those between Vanthiyadevan and Kundavi Devi. I could go on and on about the series spoiling so many surprises for you. But I urge you to read it to understand and relish its beauty. Please don’t go for the English translation for most of the beauty is in Kalki’s choice of words which are simple yet beautiful and satisfying. The language is very easy to follow (I never learnt Tamil as a language in school and was able to read through the 2500 pages So trust me).

My want to read list goes like this:

• Sivagamiyin Sabadham, Paarthiban Kanavu, Alai Osai by Kalki

• Lord of the Flies - William Golding (have read so much about it. Waiting to read it)
• Shataram
• The Lost Symbol (You gotta read Dan Brown or appear foolish cos the whole world reads him . I appreciate all the research he does for his books and his interesting plots)
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand – It was rated the best novel of the century in so many lists. It’s ideas became established philosophy.
• few more of Stephen King

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Parker_(shipwrecked)

Long time no see

Hi

It’s been so long since my last post. I started a post on New Year day but did not want to post it[odd]. Let me begin by wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2010! I am not sure if you guys believe in New Year Resolutions. I sure do. And I strongly suggest this one to all of you : health is the most important asset. Take good care of it day in and day out. You realise it only when you get sick . I was down with jaundice for two weeks and am still recovering. It has resulted in significant weight loss and general weakness. And I can almost picture the exact moment when the virus must have entered me. It must have been one of those countless times in the month preceding that when I ate at so many sub standard restaurants and also drank water everywhere! Even if you forget my general advice on health, please remember to avoid drinking water at any place where you’re not sure of the hygeine. Buy packaged drinking water bottles if you’re outside and are thirsty(Buy from good shops as there are so many shops selling tap water packed into old bottles).

I am pasting the draft(in italics) that I did not post in case someone is curious:

Long time since my last post. Not that many must have missed it, but I missed typing out a real long post, pouring all my thoughts and for the past two weeks having been at home fully down with jaundice I had loads of time for myself just idly thinking. Yesterday I read a ‘blog post’ by a friend who claimed that he kept away from blogging because he felt blogging was for ‘jobless’ vetti people and that ‘busy’ people like him did not have time for it. But then he ‘realized’ that some blogs were ‘useful’ and ‘informative’ and so he too has started blogging. I felt like shouting ‘what the hell!’. I am not sure if that post was either ‘informative’ or ‘useful’ whatever be the definition he had given to those terms. Well, world is full of self important people with ‘intellectual’ opinions [I accept at times I sound cocky too]. I don’t blog often, still I celebrate the spirit of blogging. It is such a wonderful outlet in a world where digital communications are strengthening at the cost of inter personal communications [what crap!]. It would feel so good to have a long chat with friends even if its about nothing at all [which is how my chats with friends usually are]. We all need an outlet to talk. Instead of boring someone who isn’t even interested in what you gotta say blogging allows you to pour it on the digital space where some one bored enough may read it and who knows, some one with similar taste may even like what you write. So blogging, even if its about nothing ‘useful’ or ‘informative’ it is still a good thing and I recommend everyone to try it. Ok after that very long aside, I will come to the topic of the post. HAPPY NEW YEAR! I am sure you’ve all been celebrating the New Year in much better ways than me. I’ve been at home the whole day and watching TV which is I guess the most boring way to spend it. Ok , this post is mainly about New Years. Why do we celebrate new years? As I see it, it gives us an opportunity to start over again. Wipe off all the dust of failures and disappointments. Make new resolutions, to revive life and maybe reflect on how to live it better. My priorities have changed a lot in recent years. So have my dreams, my idea of what’s important and what’s not. [why do  i talk about myself?? Reason one: that's mostly the purpose I blog! Reason two : if i put everything as you should do this and that, it would sound like advice which I am definitely not qualified to impart! So I talk about myself and my life. If you can make generalisations and use stuff I say or at least if it makes you think of how or if the same applies to you, then both of us are benefitted.] 2009 was a very special year for me. I started earning in this year. I am sure every one would remember their first job, their first salary day. It felt so surreal that someone would actually pay for the work I do [Now don't fire me for this. It's like while in college though we dream of jobs, still it's so thrilling when we get paid for the first time. More than the money, it is the pride of earning]. Again this year started off with the last semester of my BE course which is like the best semester ever with endless fun with friends.

I am not going to continue the post as it’s too difficult to play back the thought flow that must have triggered the post. Isn’t that true with most of us often? Once we lose the flow of thoughts, they’re lost for ever. We cannot reproduce them, we can try and produce a semblance, a faint ghost of what must have been the germinating idea, but still we never can have the same thought flow and continue from where we left some other day. I often wonder how people write those big books, like how  they continue the thought flows through pages and chapters? I guess they have some sub units which would stand by themselves at least in the minds of the writer. Thoughts are tricky things alright.

So once again I just have the urge to blog and not really much to blog about or maybe the vessel (metaphor for my mind if you’re too dumb to figure that out ) is full and so it appears almost as if there is nothing in it. Either ways, I request you to read on with zero expectations or just close the tab and continue with whatever you were doing.

I recently read a post by a friend(though he may not remember my name [the ever so invisible Arjun, the nobody in school:) ]) (not the intellectual friend with his bloggers-are-vetti theory) on how people needed love, needed to be pampered. I thought it was good.  Here’s the link to it.

So what have I found out? or what does the hazy image I see right now mean – how do I verbalize it? Ok, let me try.

We live life by the second. yes, this second is what you can live in. Yes, you’re looking forward to that event this Friday, that new job next month or your wedding next year [don't know if people look forward to it though ] . You spend so much time thinking or dreaming of those events. Yet we’re always stuck with the seconds. This second your problem maybe a mosquito in your nose which is causing an urge to  scratch, nonchalant about your huge dreams of the future, not caring for the glorious moments that you’re thinking of. Right this second, you simply have to scratch your nose where the mosquito bit you [Might have been a gross example, but i think you got the point].  In the present tense we’re stuck with the seconds and all those seemingly insignificant details. But whenever we think of the past or the future, we think of events. (We never think of how we are going to wake up day after tomo and brush our teeth, though eventually on that day, when you wake up and when you so badly want to switch off the stupid Sony Ericcson mobile’s alarm and roll over and sleep more, the image of brushing is going to haunt you for then it is something you know you have to do, the starting point of your mundane daily life, the first step in operation Rush-to-office-after-faking-bath ).

I think this concept of the day-to-day, second-to-second living is in sharp contrast to the event to event passage of time that we visualise in our minds. Whenever we think of the past or the future, we think of it in terms of events, usually the more emotional impact(pain, pleasure, happiness, gloom etc) the event had, the more vivid the memory is.  There is a movie ‘Click’ with Adam Sandler which deals with this difference in our perception of time in the past and future and the present. The character gets a power by which he can be on ‘Auto-Pilot’ when he is doing the routine chores of day to day life. Eventually he realizes that most of his life is whizzing past on auto pilot and he finds himself a flabby old man.

The proverb : “Life is the summation of the insignificant moments as much as it is the collage of those significant events!“

Ok, so what, you ask. This has implications in every aspect of life. For instance, love (I guess you expected me to talk of love despite my disclaimers. And why not, my page title reads “Man. Life. Love” – Man is me. Life is mine. Love is who?:) ). What I am gonna say is valid for   any type of love though I will stick to the often stereotyped love between a man and a woman.  On the day a guy proposes to a girl, in some serene setting, when he has felt so much magic, he usually dreams of events like proposing, wedding (mostly the girl thinks of this I heard like isn’t wedding the end of ‘normal’ life for the guy?). Reality often falls short of the dream as reality whether we like it or not is about every day, about day-to-day second to second living.

<Took a long break here and so killed the thought flow you’ll see only the ghost of what I was to say>

The point is … while ‘falling’ in love (there is a nice quote I saw somewhere: if marriage is when you fall in love, is divorce when you finally climb up again), the dreams are about those magical moments – that fairy tale land where there are just the two of them and time stands still and the only thing they do all the time is love each other. Problems start when the reality of the everyday strikes. When circumstances forces one (or both) of them to wake up and start living by the moment, face the challenges of every day where dreams too must follow some time schedule. The problem is the integration of the other ‘dream’ person with whom one has imagined the ‘dream’ future into the reality of the mosquito biting present. But there are people who have succeeded in not letting the magic vanish with time, who have succeded in balancing the dream and real worlds and sometimes making the dream world happen. They relish the routines instead of being consumed by them. They’re the ones who’d stop at the florist to buy a rose when going home, at the same time not forgetting to buy the things in grocery list. They’re the ones who’d steal that ten minutes during lunch break to call up the other. They’re the ones who think up of surprises for birthday even if it falls during the exams/ review time. Am I getting too specific here? yes, maybe. That’s cos I can only talk from what I’ve seen and in the past few years I have seen quite a good number of pairs. To cut a long story short, these are people who celebrate the other, for whom the other is and will remain the dream person and never let him/her become a mundane part of a mundane life. I am not reading the entire post now for I am sure I won’t post it if I read it again:). I end the post here, wishing you a happy new year where ever day would be special and wishing you luck in finding / re discovering the dream person in your life. Cheers

King Stories

Well, I have become a member in one of the lending libraries here. I got attracted by their online cataloging and door delivery facilities. But already I am keeping the books beyond the due dates. Work got a bit tight [ isn't that what every tom, dick harry says? self important, ignorantly proud humans, poor species we!] .  But work is worship, yes. And it’s not like too too too busy. Just a little busy. So I couldn’t psot anything for past few days. But I somehow found time to read three novels and here are the reviews(No points for guessing who the author of these novels is ):

 

• Salem’s Lot - One of King’s older novels. As usual most of the setting is esoteric and I couldn’t relate to it. But still, it was a real scary type horror. Midway through the novel, you will definetely feel apprehensive to look behind towards the ajar door for you would irrationally believe, yes, believe and almost feel the presence of some pale, dead being coming to get you. Unlike the other novels I’ve read, there wasn’t much depth in characters which was partly the reason I did not like it. I have read the Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson which along with Dracula seems to be King’s inspirations for this novel. It is about vampires and is as scary as they can ever be. The childhood incident that the protaganist suffers is spine chilling. If you want a good scare and forget all about it, then do read this novel. There are no subtle messages or cues nor is there any great psychological import in the novel. In that sense it was too unKingly. Near the ending it got a bit boring and trite.
• Duma Key – Again, I am writing this review mostly to talk about this novel. It was awesome! Among the ones I’ve read in recent times, I can’t remember enjoying any other novel the same way as I enjoyed this. A building contractor who loses a hand in a grisly accident goes to live for a while in a seemingly calm and serene island off the coast of Florida. Following the advice of his shrink, he starts painting which was once just a childhood hobby. He starts painting so well that the local art gallery agrees to host an exhibition of his work and he paints at about one painting a day, ‘as if in an assembly line’. And thus ensue some wonderful and terrible things. I don’t want to spoil the suspense by even telling what happens after that. The characters seem too real to be fiction. The description of the accident and the post accident trauma is so well described. King suffered from an accident himself in 1999 and it was pure luck that he even survived. So the description of the suffering seems just too authentic.  The protaganist meets Wireman, who is the helper for a senile woman who is the only other occupant in that tiny island. Honestly, I don’t even know why King writes horror. Remove the horror part and this is a beautiful, delicious, enjoyable, memorable novel. Even with the horror, it is all that. And anyways he says he doesn’t have a choice.  The recovery, the psychological profiles of all the characters from the protaganist to Wireman to the old woman who was once the little girl is so well captured. Wireman is so lovable and I often remember things Wireman says throughout the novel like “We fool ourselves so well that we can do it for a living” or “God punishes us for what we cannot imagine” and so on. I did not like the ending very much, but that too was very Kingly and overall I place this alongwith The Stand and The Green Mile as the best King novels and definitely one of my all time favourites!
• Hearts in Atlantis – Well, this is a book which has many interconnected stories and novellas. It is about the US in the 60s. About characters who are all invariably involved with the Vietnam war. There is lot of character depth especially in the first novella about Bobby Garfield (“Low Men in Yellow Coats”).  But again, knowing so little about the war, so much of the book went over my head. But the characters are again memorable like Pete Riley addicted to card game, Bobby Garfield, an adolescent with a single mother who finds such a good friend in Ted Bruagtigan, his new neighbour, Carol Gerber, Bobby’s childhood sweetheart who later becomes a student terrorist fighting for ‘peace’ in Vietnam. There is too much of disconnectedness because of the different time frames across which the stories are spanned. But being an ignoramus when it comes to Vietnam, I couldn’t really get much into the story. The part I enjoyed most were the little Bobby’s correlating the incidents of Lord of the Flies to the events in his life.

 

Coorg Trip!

And so, after a week of back and forth mails planning the trip (Well, at least talking some other nonsense replying to that group mail titled Reg Coorg Trip), the trip finally took off when the guys from Chennai arrived here on 1st night (Well, the night of first of october!:)). Seven of us stayed that night in Madan’s house and predictably enough, we chatted well into the night and slept at around two thirty after talking about everything in the world from Karthik’s ‘extra curricular’ activities to well, you know the kind of stuff guys talk when they meet, yes, the techniques, philosophies, science behind………well, a lot of stuff (Madan, we will all forever remember that theory you propounded:) ). And then, we slept off, trying to steal the blanket from each other while the other slept. And I was unceremoniously, cruelly woken up at 4 00 AM by Manoj and I passed the favour to others and so we started, some of us bathed, others pretended and we reached the bus stand and caught the bus on time before seven(I guess that was the least exciting part of the trip! From then on, it was edge of seat thriller ).

The journey was mostly comfortable, with the bus stopping in a very decent high way restaurant where we munched some tasty breakfast of Idlis and Vada. We reached Madikeri (the main town in Coorg) at around 2. There was no steep raise or relief nor were there any major hairpin bends. Coorg isn’t exactly Ooty or Kodai, yet, there it sprung in front of our lives, lush and lively with the bright green spreading across the entire region, brightened further as if as for welcoming us, by the light showers. We had booked a taxi in advance and started our sight seeing spree.

The first destination was Byla Kuppe, where there is a Tibetan settlement (a Buddhist monastry). Well, I have seen Buddhist monastries in Darjeeling and it wasn’t new. But the giant golden statues of Buddha and two others whom we couldn’t identify were majestic. We spent spent our time mostly clicking away at our cameras, standing in front of the Buddha, as if we were movie stars arriving at the Cannes. The next destination was Dubare/ Nisarghadhama. It has boating and water rafting in one of the parts where the Kaveri gallops fast through the woods in a muddy, brown stream. As luck would have it, the water rafting was not available at the time and we did not care much about the ordinary boat ride which was the alternative. Moreover, there was too much crowd and we just spent the time, watching the crowd(:)) and the elephants on the other bank that seemed to be taking an evening dip in the river.

I had developed a head ache by the time we reached the next destination- Raja seat. The Raja of the place used to visit this place in the evenings and would sit there and watch the sun lower itself into the blanket of surrounding mountains. We did not have much hopes about the place as it was cloudy and more so because Karthik said it would be good. And the place was too crowded and so we thought it was a boring place. It was getting very cold and the rain was on the verge of growing from a mere drizzle to a downpour. And so casually, we looked down and there was this path. And no one was going that way. And so started the first of the memorable events of the trip, as we started walking down that path, pushing away the thorny bushes that were blocking the path. There were steps that were wet and slippery and we held each other’s hands tight, to be sure to pull the other off to in case one of us fell:). And then we were awestuck by the beauty of it as there were few isolated view points, standing bare in front of us, offering splendid view of the mountains around and the roads below us, like black snakes in the dusky darkness. The vehicles moving in the road were mere dragon flies buzzing slowly along the snakes. And the wind blew into our faces hearty kisses and we felt on top of the world. We yelled out loud, as if we had discovered the existence of the place (Though it was true in a way as the others had not bothered going down the path that evening). Many people watching us from the Raja seat, immediately rushed down the path, to enjoy the view, after we tasted it of course (He he). We kept moving from one view point to another, jumping over trees and holding on to bushes to avoid falling off the cliffy edge and of course taking those ’solo’ and ‘group’ pics! There were a large group of people who looked like college students, dancing in the park near the place. We were  all reminded of our IV and the camp fire in Munnar. It was exactly one year back (Sep 29-Oct2??).
We reached the Pompei valley resort where we had booked two rooms for the night. It was lush and green and the two adjacent cottages were comfortable and warm amidst the wet, cold trees. All the guys played five cards late into the night and I was trying to sleep a bit to cure the head ache. We had Chapthis with hot Panneer masala. I slept off early that night, missing the cards game and of course the chat!

The next day we started from Pompei valley after fighting with the haughty owner of the place over the extra ned they had kept hidden under the cots. We caught bus and came to Madikeri. It was pouring with increasing intensity and we had a row over whether to take a taxi for the whole day or to Abbey falls through taxi and then take the bus to Ramcad estate. We had gotten the bad news that the Nagarhole forest safari was cancelled due to the rains. We decided(did we?:)) to take taxi to Abbey falls. Abbey falls looks like a mini Niagara falls. Ok, that is a bit exaggeration. But, yes, It was a splendid cataract(gre effect). It was too fierce to bathe in and when we walked across the narrow bridge, taking numerous solo snaps, pushing away the rest of the crowds. The mist raising from the falls left us pleasantly bedraggled and some of us were covering our cameras with our jerkins. Nature’s beauty was abundant, romantic and seductive. One of us mumbled “Evlo naal da inthaa maari idathukku naama pasangala mattum varadhu *SIGH*”.
We had lunch at a ‘roof top’ restaurant, with most of the guys joining us, the vegetarians(it was a purattasi saturday, so no meat!), watching the others who were gulping down the chicken and prawns with ravenous eyes. A cute kid of about two provided us entertainment with its elaborate eating skills in the next table.

The bus journey from Madikeri to Kutta( the nearest bus stop to the Ramcad estate) was the most myserious part of the trip. The same paddy fields, bridge, and the slanting road towards the right kept reappearing about dozen times during the course of three hours! We all still believe the driver was taking us around the hill in circles, maybe fulfilling some special venduthal. The road was bad and we were all thankful when we got down at Kutta. A jeep was waiting to take us to Ramcad estate which was kilometres inside a large patch of thick green. It had very beautiful cottages and one of the three cottages was made of wood from top to bottom. “Ideal place for honeymoon” Most guys agreed. After a successful attempt at pushing Karthik over the slippery algae filled ground near the cottage(Kudos to Gokul), we started yet another game of 5-cards and chat. Mysteriosly, Navin kept winning all the games. Should find out his trick!

The next day we woke up at around 7 and walked in the thin drizzle to Iruppu falls, the FINAL DESTINATION of our trip. We reached a narrow stream that was disappointingly ordinary. There was a 3 foot wide metal bridge to walk over to the other side where there were steps leading to the falls. And a tree had fallen right across the bridge due to the previous day’s rains (Whole of North Karnataka was down with floods and whenever anyone got signal, we got calls enquiring about our safety!). We had to duck and crawl over to reach the other side and the icing on the cake was that a bee hive had been crushed by the fall and hundreds of bees were lying there on the floow of the bridge. We had to walk or rahter crawl through them! Though I was shit scared of the honey bees, I eventually crossed it too, motivated mostly by SAB. And then we had to cross ten feet of the tree’s wreckage on the other side which was infested with much more bees than we could count. We walked over the slippery branches and reached the steps. The steps lead to the falls and further almost to the begining of the falls. It is a gigantic, tall, three stage falls pouring ferociously from a great height. We reached the half way point which was reachable through the steps and drank the sweet, fresh water of the Kaveri, much before she came down to the plains and crawled into our polluted cities. After many solos and Aayutha ezhuthu poses (at the top there was not enough room for group pics!), we walked down, musing about the mystery family that had gone before us. They had disappeared completely and after a while we saw them behind us, watching us from below ominous umbrellas, seemingly plotting how to push us all over. They seemed so much like the movieish “Vaanga naanga romba kaalama intha edathula thaniyaa thaan irunthom, neegalum ulla kudhuchu ingayae thangidunga!” types. On the way back, the bees finally woke up and stung Nari and Sab.
We walked to the resort, deciding to skip bath as it was getting ‘late’ for the ‘1:30′ bus. We had a heavy brunch of Idlis, Kaarabath and Bread omlette. After eating, we all got into a elongated photography session and were relaxed as we had hired a jeep to take us to Madikeri bus stand. And so, we started from the place at about 11 10, with the driver assuring us that we’ll reach in two hours. He was telling us about a couple who had hired the taxi the previous day, of the places they had visited. Vyanad district of Kerala was a mere 3 KM away and we all listened to the places to visit there, me nearing the climax of the novel I had been reading, when Manoj announced “Hey! Bus is at 1!”. And the driver said it was impossible to reach that soon. Still, he managed to reach upto eighty in that god forsaken road. After an initial accusation and counter accusation session, we all sat on the edge of our seats, hoping we would reach there safe in the first place and hoping we would catch the bus. Ajay and Nari were betting on whether or not we will reach on time. One of us got the idea of calling up the bus stand and asking them to wait. They said they will wait for only ten minutes at the maximum. We reached at 1: 15 and caught the bus AFTER it rushed out of the bus stand. The driver and conductor scolded us in Kannada for a long time and we were unscathed and happy because of our not knowing the language. It was a fitting end to the trip. Cheers to Coorg:)!

The Stand – Review

I have wanted to read this novel for quite some time. I had read reviews that said this was the best novel written
by Stephen King so far. King has been one of my favourite authors and I wanted to know what his best would be like.
Moreover, this novel was rated in many top 100 novels lists(Randomhouse:http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html, Best 100 novels: http://www.thebest100lists.com/best100novels/), especially the lists where people got to vote instead of some stupid snobs who would not accept any work other than those literary 1000 page novels without plot and with
highly ornate 1000 word descriptions of how the leaves fell from the tree to the ground on one fine day. There are such literary classics that, maybe, are too good. But rejecting popular fiction merely because it is understood and appreciated by all instead of an elite group is nothing short of ignorant snobbery. Some great man said “The true test of greatness of art is its ability to be understood by the masses”. I have hated some of the novels he wrote like Gerald’s game or Cujo (I threw the former before I was half-way through). I generally don’t like his ’situational horror’ novels in which the narration seems to be in realtime as the characters get stuck in a horrific sitation (Gerald’s game- The protaganist is hand cuffed to the bed, in a room with her dead husband, killed by a reflexive blow during their foreplay. Cujo- A woman who has committed adultery gets stuck with her baby inside a car for 3 days and a rabid(haunted) dog waits for her to open the door). There is intense pyschological depth in his characters and narration. My favourites from him are ‘Riding the bullet’(a novella), The Green Mile (adapted into a beautiful movie with Tom Hanks playing the protaganist) and now ‘The Stand’. He is accused often of
being too wordy and the older version that I read had 720 pages. He released it again in 90s with the initially cut portions included which I read was around 1200 pages long. But I thought it was an enjoyable read and did not get stagnant or boring anywhere along though it definitely not the ‘thriller’ types.

Though it starts off with most of the population dying from a accidental flu virus outbreak which was being developed as a biological weapon, it is mostly about humans, especially Americans, and about human behaviour. The survivors of the apocalypse split into two groups of evil and good and the story is the the epical tale of the struggle between the two forces, sometimes both inside the same individual. Though there are too many characters in the story, each of them are so well portrayed and towards the end of the novel, it feels like we’ve lived with the characters and miss them. For me, characters are more important than even the plot and the ones in this novel are alive and human and real. They make real follies and are real heroes or real villains. I think only few master story tellers like King bring out the characters to life so perfectly and effortlessly. Next comes the descriptions which are on par with the characterization though I felt most of the references to places, people, culture, music are esoteric and could be appreciated more by Americans. But he is an American author and probably wrote for American readers alone at that time. So the descriptions of the geography and culture of the different states, though rich, were things I could not relate to.

King is infinitely insightful of human behaviour and the way the characters respond and progress through the story is realistic and serves perfectly to move the story ahead. In the final few chapters we feel the pain and the loss and more importantly the greatness that an ordinary human being can achieve. He shows that the people in the ‘evil’  group aren’t fully evil. Towards the climax, the characters ripen completely and we see them raise to glory, each in his own way(Especially the ‘evil’ group characters like Trachcan, Lloyd and the ‘good’ ones like Larry, Stu, Ralph, Glen).  We end up sympathising with all the characters which is the highest achievement for a novel. This is a novel that deserves its place up there on the top 100. Do read it. I will lend it to you if you want (though it’s a tattered second hand copy ).

Long time no see

Hi all readers! It’s been long since my last post. From now I will post much often, trust me[ As if people are dying to read You! ]. But I have decided NOT to publicize my posts with orkut/facebook or status messages. So if you are really interested in reading stuff I write [you have poor taste?], then kindly check it once in a while. This is for the simple reason that I am pouring forth more and more personal views and though I am not scared much about speaking aloud my thoughts, I want to avoid any complications coming from my views reaching people I know who are not able to appreciate the won’t be able to appreciate the content here[arrogant fool!]. Too tired to post more today. Will post tomorrow. take care!

Profanities-What the Duck

It is with considerable reluctance that I venture forth on this particular post. I have always restricted myself to writing about things that I face in every day life or questions that arise at times when I am sleeping with eyes open ( call it silent contemplation)

[So you face hunters everyday?]

Well, if we include the sadistic urges that sometimes simmer in the darker chambers of our mind, then even hunters was about something I could relate to and have experienced. So this post is about profanities, abusive or foul language, ketta vaarthaigal, ‘bad words’ etc.,

Speech is the (Ok, One of the) vehicle through which all our thoughts, ideas, emotions, fears reaches other people. And the average person (Is there really an average human being??? Aren’t we all special or weird in one way or the other? Why to label the vast humanity with the average human?) spends a substantial amount of his time talking. We talk when we’ve a valid reason to echo our ideas to the other person, or when we feel bored and lazy, when we feel apprehensive and tensed, or when we are enthusiatic and full of dreams, or when we’re too exasperated and and fed up with people around. In short we talk most of the days, most of the time since most of our lives involves interaction with other people for varied reasons. And foul language is a habit that tarnishes this important outlet we have to the external world.

When I was in school I don’t remember a single instance when I used those foul word. Most of the people I saw using profanities were disgusting creatures and I did not want to sound like them ever. And my refraining from using foul language was stemmed from a misplaced sense of attachment between foul language and darkness of heart (Why is this incessant obsession we seem to have with attaching anything good to bright, light, white and anything bad or horrific to dark, black? Did it stem from the racist feelings people had about the white men being superiors? Ok I’ll reserve that to a different post:)). After getting into college, I found so many nice people, who were just like me in most aspects, so fluently mouth all those supposedly ‘bad-words’ in such mellifluous tone that it no longer seemed like a bad thing to do. In fact beyond a point, it appeared to be a ‘cool’ thing to do. But soon I became an inveterate foul speaker and the inevitable happened. The habit gets so ingrained in my speech that soon it started appearing in all the wrong places. There is a level of decency some people expect in speech and to them such profanities mean a blemish in the character. Though I never will accept foul language as anything more than a habit born from company of people using foul language (just as smoking or drinking is a result of mixing with people who do it) and neither of these are any metrics to judge a person’s character. As long as you don’t affect any other person, what you do isn’t wrong. (Sounds like naalu paerku nalladhu nadkumna ethuvum thappu illa:)). But in case of profanities, when it becomes second nature, you do hurt other people. Maybe such foul language is part and parcel of the ‘friends-gang’ and everyone inside our friend’s circle know that you don’t mean anything when you use the words, but people who aren’t used to such language may take it seriously and get hurt. And anything when it becomes a habit isn;t really good as we’ve no control of it. So now I’ve decided not to use foul language. It takes a while to get something like that out of the system. But anything about our self can be changed (It is the one hope that fuels us to go on). But I would definitely not suggest using another word for the supposedly bad ones: like what the fish for what the fuck, or son of a gun for son of a bitch(Have you ever wondered why all bad words seem to relate to sex and infidel behavior and prostitutes? ). Instead I feel it’s better if we can gain control of our speech and maintain our nerve and not let the situation get the better of us, then we’re more likely to succeed in overcoming this bad habit. They say the more we try to suppress something, the more we get inclined to do it. So IMHO the best approach would be to, as far as possible, divert the mind and allow it to cool down and come to senses when an arguement takes a nasty turn when you’re sure it is going to disintegrate into foul tongued brawl. But that’s just my HO and also it is highly imperative that we do not judge a person based merely on the words they use, for hidden behind all those smooth words and pleasant smiles may be the cruelest of souls just as some of the most magnanimous hearts may have a window of rude tongue and unrefined language. Perhaps my best advice is NEVER to judge a person:). For any such judgements are anyways going to be mostly wrong and what the other person is seriously none of our business and we have enough things to worry about ourselves:). All these are just my HO. Hope I am

not sounding too smart-assy (Though I don’t mind sounding like that. I am a smart ass!). Though there are many more things I want to talk about, I have work today, so will post in length soon.

P.S: I am so enthralled at the sudden increase in number of site visits (ya 45-50 is so much higher than the usual 4-5 I used to have!). Thank you, one and all for reading the blog! And I would be so much happier if you can leave a comment on the post (You can use profanities if the post is too bad:) I would

accept it). Hoping you will continue to read and hoping I will get better at verbalising the obviously hazy and distorted thoughts arising in my barren mind into something comprehendible and sane( Ok Sanity is too high an aim!). Keep Reading!!

The Hunters

Is hunting wrong? By hunting, I don’t mean the onslaught of a tiger on a herd of deer. That is fully justified by the basic instinct of hunger (Yes, hunger is the basic instinct. In fact it is a incarnartion of the survival instinct and is thousands of times stronger than urge for sex. We wouldn’t know. For most of us, hunger means just the few hours delay in meal. We feel some emptiness in stomach and a little exhaustion. That is the maximum we have ever experienced. But starvation of days is a totally different story. Mind, despite its sophistications is free to think and act only when the body is intact. If the body is starved of food, all the shackles of civilisation breaks off and humans are transformed to the primitive animals we were. We have heard of such accounts of how few sailors who got stuck in sea for months started killing each other and satisfying their hunger with human flesh[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism].) That kind of killing for food seems justifiable. I am talking about the so called hunting for pleasure – to show humans or the hunters are superiors, to hear the animal howl as it breathes its last and to smell its dead flesh as the hunters tear away the horn or skin for soevinirs. Maybe all of this is a manifestation of a deep rooted sadistic desire that is present in all of us (Like Unakulla Muzhuchutrukkara athey mirugam thaan enakulla thoongikittu irukku). Maybe years of so called civilisation and conditioning that has come about, promoted by people who are themselves in constant danger from stronger people has reduced our animosity to an almost indiscernible quantity. But all of us have seen even kids less than three and four years crushing ants and smiling in joy and awe at the tremendous impact and commotion his tender fingers could cause. Is it something to be ashamed of, this inherent urge to harm? Or do we need to hide it behind layers of feigned civilisation and generosity? We have the power to suppress another being, but will we stand still and accept the just possibility that someone more stronger than us can and will harm us for pleasure? Does a part of our ‘refined’ selves still crave for the cruel and shocking pleasures of inflicting pain on other beings?

P.S.: was reading this post today while going through the old posts. Two stories I read recently – The Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Black Cat by E.A.Poe touch on the same topic – of a possible darker side of man that is only concealed by civilisation and not cured. Interesting observations on human mind – these stories