Sujatha

Sujatha (pen name of S. Rangarajan), one of the icons of contemporary Tamil Literature, has passed away. He was 72, and is survived by his wife and two sons. A Multifaceted personality, with engagements to name a few: Scientist, Engineer, Science Fiction Writer, Novelist, Columnist in weekly and daily publications and movie script writer, all in diverse fields. He is most popularly accredited as the man behind the Electronic Voting machines (EVMs) during his tenure with BEL (Bharat Electronics Ltd) when he headed the team that designed it. Sujatha is a rare gem from the science fraternity who is known for communicating complex and hard to understand science behind things through simple and lucid writing to the audience. Also he has penned about 100 novels and hundreds of short stories. Personally I liked his book, an Ananda Vikatan publication, 'yaen ? yedarkku? yeppidi?' (translates to what? why? how?). Interestingly, he is equally an authority in the kollywood (Tamil movie Industry) too with a number of projects. As far as I remember he wrote scripts from Indian (one of Kamalhassan's biggest hits) to Mudhalvan and Sivaji, to name the latest. His last creative venture was with Shankar's mega project, Robo. Sadly, he passed away before its completion.

Sujatha shall stay alive in the minds of readers with his writing and works. May his soul rest in peace.

Blah, blah and Blah.......

So I've got to update this.. I've been on a long sojourn..and a lot laziness + boredom + lack of enthu didn't really kind make me open this. But anyways here are the updates: Workwise okay okay and I've moved to a new place - Oxford for my next assignment. After a week long [passive] house hunting, I just got one. So that calls for a celebration here and so this post :-)
More to follow at its own pace. So watch this space...!!!
p.s: A new mobile phone purchase is on the hold. Updates to follow

HAPPY NEW YEAR

If you are reading this and if this still is the month of January (irrespective of the year!), accept my New Year/Pongal/ Sankranti/ whatever applicable wishes.

I've made a trip to Chennai after 11 long months - Chennai is very much the same, only that traffic (both human and automobile) has gone denser than ever. The first sight that pleasantly welcomed me outside Anna International Airport were Chennai's swarming queue of adorable Taxi drivers and Autokaarars. One look at the Ambassador cars - both White ones and Black-(top)yellow ones realised me how dearly I missed them in the UK. And also our affectionate and welcoming mosquitoes.

My vacation was originally for 2 weeks and now its been extended. I've planned to take some rest and am glad that I'd be here for some more time...So far my holidays went okay okay. Lots of interim alachal (for the Tamil challenged, this translates to 'wandering locally') and two trips to Chennai within 2 weeks. Did nothing productive though. Fell sick with cold and coughh in my native place and almost back to form now. Didn't check Internet for a long while (= 2 weeks) - hence the delay in blogging or orkutting and or facebooking.

There are lots to do - need to learn few chettinad and quickie dishes that might come handy, have to see Taare Zameen Par and I am Legend. Regd Tamil movies, I am upto date - Billa, Kalluri et al have been covered while in London itself. Billa is okay - stylish, chic and racy, but lacks in substance. Same story and not even a minor change in the plot. Billa - the earlier, was class and the new one falls down vis a vis the old Billa. However, Billa the new is trendsetter in kollywooed in terms of camera, action and stunts..

Running out of time in the browsing cafe. So........See you soon in my next post!

Facebook

I've been in Facebook for quite sometime, but mostly as an inactive member. Just recently I started exploring and playing around and importantly building network...The motivation started with my some of my facebook colleagues prompting me to check this often..And that its cool! It looks quite different than orkut (where I am quite active).. but the only hands-down in facebook is adverts, little font and too many [default] feeds that are annoying.. I know one can change the preferences - but still I wonder if it is REALLY necessary to display a feed if someone has updated an alphabet somewhere in the profile!
Anyways, I've taken few cool quizzes there - one of them is a friends character quiz. You answer 10 odd questions and it maps you to a character or characters in the friends tv show. I got mapped to Joey! BTW did I tell you? I just bought the DVD for all the 24 episodes of friends season 1..I haven't seen the first season and it was good catching up the first series..

2nd Anniversary

Hey..Hey..Hey!!!

Just realised that it's a significant milestone for my not-so-significant-blog - MY SCRIBBLING. The blog has stood the test of time with its passive author and it has [un] successfully completed 2 YEARS!!!

Anyways, yours truly has 3 movies to add for finished-watching-this-movie-list: they are Katradhu Tamil, Azhagiya Tamil Magan and Jab We met. Katradhu Tamil (கற்றது தமிழ்)is an off the beat movie and presents a very different story with actor Jeeva doling out a seasoned performance. No doubt, the role of Prabhakar will elevate him to new heights. Pats to him and the director. The only downside is Katradhu Tamil has gore, violence and a sad climax, that goes against conventional Tamil movie viewers. Nevertheless, as publicised it isn't a feel bad movie either. If you want to see something different from the masala and duet movies, I would say, go for it.

Next, Azhagiya Tamil Magan (அழகிய தமிழ் மகன்) is a regular masala movie, only that Vijay appears in double role is new! But otherwise, the movie is nothing great. If you just want a timepass without caring for logic, yes, you can tolerate ATM. Otherwise, I've had heard many folks with comments such as 'intolerable, 'முடியல' (I can't...), 'நான் அழுதுடுவேன்' (Do you want me to cry?), 'ஏன் இந்த விளையாட்டு' (Why do you want to game?) etc. I already forgot the £'s I used for multiplex ticket and return cab (it was a late show) - sunk cost!

Jab We Met (जब वी मेट ), is a feel-good movie with an amazing on screen chemistry between Shahid and Kareena. You may have the de' javu of Hinidi movies like Kitne Door Kitne Paas ; but overall the movie presents a whiff of freshness. Kareena is cute and with her chatterbox role has given one of her best performances till date. Shahid is good; I did feel for the first time he is good in dancing too. Go for it!

Schindler's List and Shawshank Rdemption

Schindler's List

This is one touching movie which I saw on DVD yesterday. If you are the kind who likes emotion, suffering and pain in the backdrop of a war, you would like it. Schindler's List is a brilliant and heart touching narration of sufferings and execution of the Jews before World War II. There are many occasions in the movie that would break you down. You will witness the numerous sufferings bore by the jews, the helpless victims in the Nazi regime. Man, seeing the pain in the movie itself was terrible. But with all this, there is this one man, the hero Oskar Schindler who saves 1000 odd jews from the inescapable clutches of Nazi execution. It's a real story and towards the end of the movie it is shown there is a now sect called the Schindler Jews, who owe their lives to Oskar Schindler. I went by the reviews, which were laudatory and after watching all I say, true - it is.


Shawshank Redemption

This is another movie that I saw last week. I really regret watching it so late 'coz it belongs to the league of brilliant-ones-one-could-ever-see. The story is about a rich banker, who is mistakenly taken as his wife's murderer and given a life imprisonment by the court. Morgan Freeman is also a prisoner with life imprisonment and the movie leaps forward with his soft and witty narration. The plot revolves around the prisoners, the daily routine, the trauma one suffers inside a prison and few good things like bonding, humour, prison library et. al. But the climax is simply brilliant, true to the spirit of its tagline - "Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free." . I recommend strongly you watch it. Note that IMDB has given a rating 9.2 (updated)/10!

Google Transliterate

Yet another innovative product from GoOgLe - Transliterate.
Type any Hindi/Malayalam/Tamil/regional language word in English (same way as we pronounce it) and hit SPACE... It gets translated to that regional language and boy, quite accurate! This works like a dictionary mode on your mobile phone and of course, boon for me folks like me !!!

My first attempt (pasted from the typepad in the link):

हेल्लो वर्ल्ड (Hindi)
ஹலோ வேர்ல்ட் (Tamil)
హలో వరల్డ్ (Telegu)
ಹಲೋ ವರ್ಲ್ಡ್ (Kannada)

And my name:
कासी
காசி
కసి
ಕಸಿ

The languages included for now are Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. More languages would be added in near future, me thinks. Please note that this Google Transliteration is a prototype and still is in the early stages of development. No doubt, the product when formally rolled out would be a huge hit!

The return of ME !!!

It’s been a long while away from the blog. So this shall be a very blog-friendly post capturing most what I want to record and dabble here..

My mother came to London last month. So, kind of re-touring London every weekend covering places such as London Eye, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Thames river, Hyde Park, central London et al. This way I got to see Buckingham Palace, which is open only for 2 months a year, from inside for the first time. It was a fabulous experience! Also visited places were one Murugan temple and another Sivan temple in Lewisham. My mother is pleasantly surprised to see this – I have been here for over 9 months and all I visited among temples is one Mahalakshmi temple and Swami Narayan temple - that too each only once. Anyway, she is not at least startled when I discovered recently that there are actually two Indian temples in Wembley, the place where I stay! Okay now pause this ;-)

The festival season has started! With Id and Navaratri on the same day, it was double celebration. Last Saturday evening (till Sunday early hours) yours truly was with Gujju friends Parth & Co. enjoying Garba and Dandiya at a Gujrati Hall nearby. It was damn crowded with over 1000 heads. Needless to say, all girls with their traditional wear were (or least seemed) beautiful!

Over the past two weeks, I watched loads of movies… Scream 1, Scream 2 and Scream 3 in dvd in one sitting whole night – started at 10 pm Saturday and ended at 5.30 am Sunday! And it was certainly worth the time and efforts ;-) Later bought few Tamil DVDs – Chennai 600026, Ammu Aagiya Naan, Arya, Pirappu, Pallikoodam and Sivi. Finshed watching all of them with ‘a- dvd-a-day’ schedule! Of all these I enjoyed watching Chennai 600026 a lot – it was total fun! Ammu Aagiya Naan, slightly off the beat, is also noteworthy with a bold story, and is impressive with its poignant narration and picturization – definitely worth a watch. Arya is a mere waste of time; remember to park your sense of logic outside when you decide to watch this. Pirappu is okay, nothing impressive. Pallikoodam getsyou the de’javu' of Cheran’s Autograph – yet this melodrama is worth watching once. Sivi, the horror flick, which is getting rave reviews is good, but ended abruptly with a climax. May be the team is planning for a sequel? Other than these recently saw The Last Samurai. It was awesome!!! If you haven't watched it, my advice/suggestion/request - go now and watch it. And saw a really old movie - Al Pacino's Scarface, though it is critically acclaimed I find it just palatable.

When I started looking into latest gossips today, one news item caught my attention immediately – Chiranjeevi’s daughter elopes and marries against dad's wishes. Srija Chiranjeevi, 19, second daughter of Chiranjeevi, a recent graduate married Sirish Bharadwaj, 22 an engineering graduate at Arya Samaj, in New Bowenpally Hyderabad yesterday. It was a wedding against both their parent’s wishes and looks like the couple is seeking support from media and police for alleged threat from Chiru’s family. Interested to read more and see pics? Simple. Google ‘Srija’ and amen, you get it.

Talking about blogs, Apna company’s CTO has started a blog linked to our inhouse employee’ web portal. It is a hit – the first entry posted about 4 days ago from our CTO has drawn almost 250+ comments so far. One of the contributors there, Kris Ashok has a sparkling blog. Go thru it – its funducative! Until then, this blog is adjourned till the next post. Adios!