Paa ..

I know it is quite late for Paa review.. just happened to see some visuals of Auro on TV and some cynical reviews about the film on the net and could not resist writing .. Well, better late than never, don’t they say?? First things first, it was the best film I saw in 2009.. In a year that saw no releases from Maniratnam (my sisters and I are Maniratnam fanatics.. not just fans !!) and an over emphasis on the dark side of the society with so many films focusing on bomb blasts, terrorism and its aftermath, this film focused on the bright side of life, about positive people, honest politicians and the sheer purity and innocence of the most fascinating phase of anybody’s life – childhood..

And what a performance from the grand old man!! And what a casting coup!! The film is a winner right there .. the sheer brilliance of casting Amitabh, the greatest Indian actor (after this film there are bound to be no doubts about that !!) as the son of Abhishek speaks volumes of the shrewd brain of Balki.. but it is not just Amitabh and Abhishek.. Vidya Balan, Arundathi Nag, Paresh Rawal.. each and every actor fits effortlessly into the character he/she plays, that after a while it is no longer a film.. its an experience.. This is undoubtedly Amitabh’s best performance till date.. What a role to play at 67!! He brings Auro alive in front of our eyes.. From the scene where he skips around the pole in the metro rail with Abhishek watching with a twinkle in his eyes, to where he refuses to enter the rashtrapati bhavan and later explains, ever so sweetly, that he wanted to do potty, to wondering aloud to his grand mom about what might have happened the previous night when he sent his parents home together ..wow, Amitabh at his best .. well, Auro at his best I should say.. since u almost forget Amitabh in the whole process, all you remember is Auro, Auro, Auro ..

Whoever did the costumes for Vidya Balan in this film sure knows his/her job well.. She looks well dressed and dignified fitting her doctor persona in the film.. Her acting skills need no introduction .. and she has an unique face that fits the demure housewife and an intelligent professional in just the same way !! Abhishek does well .. Paresh Rawal and Arundhati Nag are seasoned veterans.. so u expect such performances.. P C Sreeram casts his spell with great visuals and almost makes us believe that Amitabh is indeed a thirteen year old.. And what can one say about Ilayaraja’s music? We have heard some of the tunes in thamizh earlier, but they still sound so fresh .. so evergreen.. this man is a genius.

There has been a somewhat muted response about the film from some sections of the media .. apparently ‘cos of the unnecessary media bashing, as they call it.. I still feel, it is a very intelligent take on how media can be used constructively .. how it is as receptive to the hero, as it is to the villain .. Abhishek is shown as using the same media to own up to his mistake.. The film also shows the healthy mind set of today’s generation who are willing to accept the mistakes of their idols as long as they are honest and ready to make amends .. So I really don’t understand what the noise is all about .. In an era where the news channels are ready to “break the news” of the so called celebrities waking up in the morning and using the loo, Balki just reflects the mindset of the wider society which is getting fed up watching sensationalized news, day in and day out.. It is his way of gently reminding the media may be, that one day even news about them could be sensationalized .. and they better be careful therefore..

Overall, Paa is a very refreshing film with fantastic performances on and behind the screen… Balki clearly knows what he is doing and should not mind short sighted, cynical reviews, ignoring them as aberrations.. Watching Paa is like sitting by the window, reading a nice, cosy novel and watching, hearing and smelling the falling rain :)

The Finger Bowl Story

This is one of the most inspiring stories I have heard ..one am carrying from my college days.. I was pursuing a professional degree at that point in time and Management was one of the subjects that was taught as part of the course.. C Sir used to teach us Management .. well, in the name of Management he was actually teaching us life skills..

Just a small introduction about C Sir.. He is one of the most important people who has had a telling impact on my personality apart from my parents.. Well, not only me .. He had almost a feverish fan following across the institution .. Such was the impact of his classes that every single student was almost in a state of trance after each class got over.. V used to literally scramble for our seats. He was a stickler for punctuality and he used to ruthlessly refuse entry to students who came late to class saying “U r early for the next class”.. And then one day, he came late to class.. He was very quiet for a while.. pacing the classroom restlessly.. We thought he was, may be, preparing for class.. After five minutes, he said, “I want to first apologise to all of you.. for two things – one, for coming late today and two for being so ruthless when some of you came late.. Today, I got stuck in an unlikely situation and could not prevent my coming late.. And as I entered the institute, I was so guilty, ‘cos so many times I have failed to understand the situation that some of you probably could have been in when you came late.. I asked S (S was one of the students who got punished in the previous class for coming late) where he came from.. He said Tambaram.. Coming from T Nagar which is fifteen minutes from here, if I can get caught in a spot and turn up late, it is so much more possible for S to encounter scenarios like that and I feel especially sorry for punishing him last class.. This apology is for all those who have gotten into similar scenarios and got the rough treatment from me.. NOT for habitual late comers”.. The whole time he was saying this, he looked so sincere and humble.. There was pin drop silence in class and we were almost ready to break into applause when he finished.. We learnt two important lessons that day – One - To err is human, so before you pass judgements about any person, for a moment, put yourself in his/her shoes.. And Two – It is okay to say sorry. There is no need to feel ashamed or embarrassed .. All you need to feel is humble and sincere… Well, this is just one sample of so many such lessons he tossed our way while he incidentally taught management..

Coming to the finger bowl story.. C Sir was very well established in his career when we attended his class.. He came from a very humble background though and again he used to never feel embarrassed to talk about where he was at one stage and how he came up thru hardwork and determination.. His growth from a simple middle class innocent young man beginning his career to the highly respected professional he had then become was one of the most fascinating and inspiring stories we had heard.. So many of us could relate to him completely and so, he became the shining example we wanted to emulate.. His most famous anecdote was the finger bowl story.. It was the time when he was taking his baby steps in his career.. slowly learning the nuances of the corporate world.. In his own words “Some lessons are learnt the hard way.. I will always remember the first time I went to an elite restaurant with my boss and some clients.. It was the typical low roof, dimly lit, quiet restaurant meant for the A Listers of the city.. I had not been to restaurants often, and wherever I went till then were the noisy, brightly lit restaurants with so much bustle around you, that I instantly felt out of place in this place.. Then we started ordering.. I had absolutely no idea what to order .. everything in the menu card looked like greek and latin to me.. Sensing my predicament, my boss ordered the food for both of us.. ha, one thing out of the way.. then the food arrived.. I started eating immediately.. I was very hungry and I did not even notice what the others were eating.. When I finished I looked up.. The others had hardly eaten anything.. Was anything wrong? I didn’t know where to look.. Then my boss noticed me and said, ‘Ha C, so u have finished already?!!’ .. I was startled.. my stomach was not even half full and here he is asking me if I have already finished.. I gave him a sheepish smile and murmured yes… two lessons learnt already - one, corporate lunches are meant to be eaten slowly.. where conversation is as much a part of the meal as is the food.. two, u r not expected to fill your stomach during such lunches...I drank a glass of water to settle my growling stomach.. this time I managed to drink slowly and not gulp .. all the time, pasting a ready smile on my lips.. My ordeal was not over yet.. The waiter saw that I had finished and brought the finger bowl.. I had never seen a finger bowl in my life before.. I was stumped.. I had no idea what I was supposed to do with it.. Am I supposed to drink it? I touched the bowl.. it was warm.. there was a piece of lemon and a couple of rose petals floating on it.. I was not so sure.. Why rose petals? Surely nobody would expect me to drink warm lime water with rose petals!! Is it some publicity gimmick? I decided to wait.. Once bitten, twice shy.. After an inordinately long time, my boss finally finished what was on his plate and his finger bowl arrived.. As I was watching astonished, he casually washed his hand in it and then wiped in the napkin.. Happa, finally I knew what I was supposed to do.. I heaved a sigh of relief that was so loud, I was worried that the others might have heard it ..” .. He said this and smiled .. paused a few seconds and repeated.. “some lessons in life are learnt the hard way” ..

Now, even after so many years, when I look back, I smile at the thought of the precious lesson he taught us that day – a lesson that was gonna stay with us as each one of us, in turn, took our baby steps in our respective careers – that there are bound to be such incidents - some interesting, some awkward, some funny, some embarrassing - that u go through every day in your work life.. If C Sir can go thru it, why not you? The important thing to remember is not the embarrassment but the lesson u learnt .. And with each such lesson you grow.. C Sir, as I said before, was very well established in his career when he narrated this to us .. He was a noted personality in the corporate world by then, but he had his feet firmly on the ground.. That was another lesson.. Wherever you go, whatever u become, always remember where u started from and retain the ability to be able to look back and smile at yourself and talk about it .. There is nothing more inspiring yet humbling than to reflect on the path you have taken.. And it only made us all the more determined to succeed and one day become like C Sir..

As I write this, am remembering more and more of such life lessons he taught us.. may be, u will hear more about him in the days and months to come :)

Andha naal nyabagam..

- when oliyum oliyum (ha, there is no way to differentiate the two ‘la’s when u write in English..) was the most sought after TV programme of the week
- when a typical Sunday evening meant “I love you Rasna” ad, followed by Spiderman cartoon and then the thamizh feature film (even the most dabba films used to get full viewership!!)
- when betting was a rage at home .. well, not about whether Tendulkar is going to score another run or not, but about the combination of news readers on the 8:30 news.. Shobana Ravi and Nijandhan, Sandhya Rajgopal and Thamizhanban and so on..
- when there was so much excitement when doordharshan announced the introduction of “second channel”
- when we learnt Hindi through watching “Yeh jo hai zindagi”, “Hum log” and “Idhar Udhar” ..
- when we booked a trunk call and waited for hours to talk to athai who stayed at Delhi
- when we set the alarm at 4 in the morning to watch Manoj Prabhakar steaming in to bowl to David Boon and Geoff Marsh .. India Australia cricket was popular even then, but purely for cricketing reasons..
- when visiting the marina beach was the favourite pastime during our annual holidays
- when we patiently wrote out and posted some fifty greeting cards to all friends and extended family to wish them a happy new year..
- when our favourite weekend activity was when appa hummed some old hindi and thamizh melodies and we took turns to find out the songs correctly..
- when we played eklavyas at home and learnt most of the songs that amma taught her students (amma was a music teacher) without ever sitting down to learn..
- when there was no phone at home and we used to call Chellappa uncle (our neighbour) to communicate to amma if we were getting delayed outside..
- when we played cards but never on the PC..
- when the blue inland letters from our cousins and friends were the most precious treasures we had ..
- when the media and telecom revolution had not happened and we had time for the little pleasures in life ..

Kandaen Seethaiyai..

One of the first lessons on email etiquette at the work place is to ensure that the gist of what you want to communicate through the mail is told in the first two lines of the mail itself. The detailed explanation can then follow. This rule is to be especially followed when the mail is to the boss or to the client where the attention span is less and you need to catch their attention in the first two lines to hold their interest on the rest of the content.

An interesting parallel to this can be drawn from thamizh mythology.. There is a portion in Kamba Ramayanam where Kambar talks about Hanuman going in search of Seetha, finding her eventually in the Asoka Vanam and returning with the good news.. Hanuman returns to Rama and notices Rama’s anxious face .. Rama has been searching for Seetha for a while and is very worried about her whereabouts.. Wanting to remove Rama’s anxiety immediately, Hanuman says “Kandaen Seethaiyai”.. Kambar goes on to explain that Hanuman did not want Rama to wait for the split second when he says the word “Seethaiyai”, to hear the good news that he has actually found her.. So he says “Kandaen” first and then says “Seethaiyai”… A classic example to illustrate the importance of communicating the most important thing first.

En Iniya Thamizh Makkale...

A die hard thamizh cinema enthusiast that I am, its only appropriate that one of my first blogs is about the scenes / dialogues I enjoyed the most.. There are many more actually.. but the ones below take the cake..

Agni natchathiram – “andhamma ponnaa…” by Amala on the train sequence when she notices Prabhu watching another girl and without realizing that its his half sister starts fighting and then realizes her mistake.. That impish look on her face when she says “andhamma ponnaa…” is worth a million dollars.. The film has one of Amala’s best portrayals..

Azhagiya theeyae – “Innuma sir…” by Prasanna.. After the good hearted Prakash raj gets him married to Navya Nair not realizing their game, gives them his home to live and then innocently says that he wishes to do more for them.. The sheepish way in which Prasanna says “Innuma sir..” keeping in mind all that has happened, is sure to bring a smile to the lips of the world’s most high strung individual..

Mouna Raagam –“Yellaarayum book padikka solli irukkaen” by Karthik.. When Revathy finds him in the library after a number of earlier encounters with him and is embarrassed and worried that somebody will notice them, she tells with gritted teeth “yaaraavadhu paatha yenna nenaippaanga” and he casually remarks “yaarum paaka maataanga.. yellaarayum book padikka solli irukkaen”.. The absolute gay abandon with which he says that just sweeps you off your feet..

Nayagan – “Naan dhaan iyeru naan dhaan iyeru” by the little girl playing Kamal’s daughter – Kamal Haasan’s children grow up watching him solving people’s issues and Iyer is an integral part of his framework.. He listens to people’s problems with Iyer behind him and gives directions to iyer on what is to be done.. Since they watch it day in and day out, they imitate it with their friends.. where his son plays kamal and his daughter plays iyer.. The son asks one of his friends playing the complainant, what the problem is and once the boy tells, he turns to his sister and says “iyere..” .. and before he finishes, the girl goes “naan dhaan iyeru naan dhaan iyeru”.. The innocence of the child and her anxiety to ensure everybody understands the important role she is playing makes the viewer get out of the intense movie for a moment and have a light hearted laugh..

Roja –“Naan romba moasamaanava illa.. konjam nallava dhaan.. yenna paatha paavamaa illa” by Madhubala.. She misunderstands Arvindswamy initially and later when she realizes her mistake uses the same dialogue that he utters in an earlier scene.. her guilt at having misunderstood him and the mischievous gleam of using his same words and the happiness that her husband is not bad after all .. every thing put together makes your heart go out to her, willing that her husband forgives her for her folly..

Mozhi – “Azhu yaa…” by Prithviraj.. When the mentally disturbed professor knocks on his door and asks him if he can accompany him to the hospital to check on his son, Prithvi feels so frustrated about this man thinking that his son is still alive after so many years and in an intense desire to get him out of his mental block, shakes him and tells him that his son died many years ago.. The dialogue delivery reaches a crescendo and as it progresses u almost begin to wonder why Prithvi is so insensitive and tells everything to the professor so curtly.. And then he says “azhu yaa azhu ..” and he himself has tears in his eyes and hugs the professor. U are immediately reminded of an earlier scene where the professor’s wife tells Prithvi and Prakashraj that the professor did not shed a single tear on hearing about his son’s death and had he cried then, he would not be in this condition now.. And u realize that he has only been rude and insensitive to shock the professor and bring him out of his state of denial.. The dialogue per se and the expressions on the faces of both Prithvi and the professor make this scene, easily the most intense scene of the film and adds to the “feel good” factor the film has already garnered.. One of the best made scenes in recent cinema.. Hats off to the dialogue writer, director and the actors..

Mozhi – “Nalla padichavala irukkanum….dhairiyamaana ponna irukkanum.. suyamaa sindhikka therinjirukkanum.. idhellaam irundhaale ava azhagaa dhaan iruppaa” ..by Prithviraj.. Again kudos to the dialogue writer and director.. One of the all time favourites of many girls, this dialogue evoked spontaneous applause in the theatres.. When Prithvi says what all he expects from his dream girl, Jyothika asks him if he does not want her to be beautiful for which he says “idhellaam irundhaale ava azhagaa dhaan iruppaa”.. After seeing scores of movies with absolutely dumb portrayals of women and dumber portrayals of men going behind such dumb women simply because of their pretty faces, it is such a whiff of fresh air, when the hero is shown as intelligent enough to look for substance beyond looks and the heroine acknowledging it..

Varalakshmi Pooja for the well being of the family

My first varalakshmi pooja in a place other than Chennai just got over and am yet to recover fully .. The pooja per se, takes only about an hour but involves elaborate preparation like maakolam, ambal alangaram, neivedhyam (a full spread with kozhukattai, sundal, chakkara pongal, vadai, pachcharisi idli, appam ..), vethalai paakku thamboolam distribution etc which keeps u busy for a couple of days before the pooja apart from the pooja day itself.. Staying away from singara Chennai has many limitations, one of which is u don’t get family assistance during big poojas like this.. I remember doing varalakshmi pooja in Chennai when my entire family would pitch in to assist in the preparation.. Here am all by myself and forget the actual effort, it’s a big task to find out what is available where (Please don’t think that am living in some remote foreign location, am still in India .. thank god for little mercies!!) .. Thankfully am part of a tamizh social networking group so there are mamis who don’t have pooja in their house and one such nice mami offered to help.. And that’s how I started the preparation for my first ever varalakshmi pooja outside home ..

We set out couple of days before the pooja to buy poo, vaazhai elai etc to avoid the festival rush.. Incidentally v. pooja is a big enough festival in the city where I stay, so, going to the market the day before needed a lot of courage.. So v decided to go one day ahead trusting our refrigerators and hoping there won’t be too many power cuts.. Nice mami was coming only to help me buy whatever I needed ..but there was this other mami who also decided to come with us and she had pooja at home .. And there started the race..

First v bought poo.. It was very expensive as expected but since it is an important pooja and I was absolutely overwhelmed that so much poo was available in one place to buy, I started buying in bulk.. This other mami (for convenience lets call her J) slowly asked “why do u need so much udiri poo?” I was surprised at the question but nevertheless replied innocently.. “Am seeing some much poo together for the first time here.. so I just want to do the pooja nicely”.. She was very silent for a while.. Next v bought vethalai.. And J was again at it.. “ivlo vethalai yedhukku?.. neraya paera kooptrukkiyaa?” with special emphasis on “neraya”.. I didn’t realize she was testing the waters again and I patiently replied “Illa mami.. I can’t go out again to buy, in case it gets over .. so I normally buy more ..” .. Next it was the turn of vazhai elai.. I said I need five.. And J goes again.. “yedhukku anju ??”.. I had invited a couple of people for lunch.. These people were also known to her but I was not sure if they wud be visiting her as well.. So not wanting to get into the tangle of community politics, I gave some evasive reply but wondered why she was so inquisitive.. And the shopping expedition got over after many such interesting episodes.. Nice mami was a mute spectator through it all..

Nice mami came home later to help me with maakolam, ambal alangaram etc and mentioned that J told her to invite all the people coming to my house for pooja to her house as well.. Now it was getting a bit complex.. I said “But she may not know all of them” .. but did not have the time to progress on that conversation .. Pooja day arrived and after a frenzy of activity starting at 3 AM for making the big list of neiveidhyams, the actual pooja started at 9 and finished by 10:30.. J called at 11 to check if the pooja is over and whether she can come over for thamboolam.. She had originally told she would come in the afternoon.. I was happy though, since it is a good sagunam to have somebody coming home immediately after the pooja so I readily agreed.. Then there were a lot of others who came home and I was finally able to visit her house only after 9 at night.. Her ambal alangaram was very nice and she had put serial lights and the whole place was very well decorated.. I told her so and on my way back I happened to meet nice mami.. I innocently told her that J’s alangaram was very nice.. “serial lights yellam kooda potturukka..”.. Nice mami calmly said “serial light innikku madhyaanam dhaan poatta”.. I was amazed.. “After the pooja?? Why??”.. Nice mami just smiled..

And then it dawned on me.. finally!! All along it had been a race.. from the time of buying udhiri poo, she had always wanted to be better than me.. The purpose of coming to my house for thamboolam immediately after the pooja was to check how my decoration was so she can do something better.. First I thought it was silly.. there was no need to compete… It is a pooja after all, and u just have to do whatever u are supposed to do .. Then thinking about it more deeply, I realized, all poojas and festivals are meant to get people to socialize and there is probably an underlying sense of competition .. albeit unknowingly.. especially when u live away from home, this sense of community is heightened and it is just the manifestation of the need to be popular in your community in an alien place.. Thinking along, varalakshmi pooja is not celebrated by all tamizh people.. only tam brahm iyers and that too a select few have this festival.. If it is like this for v pooja, I was wondering what it was going to be like during navarathri.. And suddenly I realized that for a moment I had considered myself as part of the playing field!!

Ha, who said being popular in the community does not contribute to family well being??

Finally !!

So here I am .. finally... After so many months of thinking about it, I've finally taken the plunge and decided to start blogging.. well, I feel positively ancient.. shud have started long ago.. never mind, better late than never..

Well, am still learning the ropes.. Have never blogged before.. So I 'll keep this short.. To all my friends who are already avid bloggers, here I come.. Beware!!