Person 1: These are just tickets to the qualifiers
Person 2: But the lady at the counter did say all tickets final

Officer: It's unclear whats brewing between us and people of color, we are still instigating

Kavipuyal Subbu

Imagination a feel panni elutha mudhiyathu, 
Aanal feelings a imagine panni elutha mudiyum, 
Athuthaan kavithai . 


Suriyan aal velitcham kudukka mudiyum aanal irutil uranga mudiyathu, 
Thatt aal saapadu pidikka mudiyum aanal sapida mudiyathu, 
Meenkal aal kulikka mudiyum aanal thorthikolla mudiyathu, 
Mirugangal aal vai naal saapida mudiyum aanal sirikka mudiyathu, 
Ithu yellam mudintha manithanukko valkayil nimmadhi kedayadhu . 

  
Mullai mullalthaan edukaventrum, 
Vairathai vairathaal thaan arukavendrum, 
Programmil ulla bugs ai agatra naam enna pootchigala  ? 

Mrs. Crowne the supercop (Short story)

It was 6 in the morning, the sun doing its routine, shining through the windows of her bedroom.
Miss crowne working for NYPD dressed up to do her morning routine exercise -- cycling 10 miles up north.

her boyfriend Smith was sleeping late. "better not disturb him he has a long day ahead of him".

by about 7.10 crowne returned home. when she opened the front door she was bewildered to find smith lying on the floor, face down with blood soaking the carpet by the bullet piercing his head from the sniper shot.the ominous silence of the room was destroyed by the creeking of a fan over his body.

crowne knew too well who did it.she was expecting this.

she immediately reached for her gun kept in the drawer next to the door. she knew that the killer was still in there from the fresh smell of cigarettes.

crowne inched her way to the corpse,  removing her shoes to keep out the noise, "he must have been alerted by the door knob anyway", she thought.

the only way out of the house was through the front door, so he had to pass through her to get out.

"i am going to kill him this time, that ..." her thoughts were disturbed by the apparent noise of vase breaking. "in the kitchen".

she jumped her way into the kitchen with the revolver aim following her vision. there in the far end she saw a man donned in black pullover. "it is you mark!... you, YOU  didnt have to kill smith."      

mark was a sniper shooting expert, the best in business, working for kingpin gerard. crowne was interfering too much with their dealings and they wanted to get rid of her once and for all.

she charged at him diving the whole length of dining table aiming the revolver at his forehead.



she fell on her back thrown back, by the bullet force piercing her heart. everything around her was dark and her ears still resonating the swift sound of bullet.

she was too slow for him.

"child's play" were the last words she heard as she saw him disappear through the front door.

laying down still in the last moments of her life she thought ,"this shouldn't be happening"
"where did it go wrong?" "am i not a hero?"
"this was how it always worked, heroes always worked their way through villains killing
hundreds of thugs and evading thousands of bullets effortlessly. That’s how they show in movies."

“but yes, this is reality. the movies fool people showing a super hero. There is no super hero. No super hero, no sup …” her mind failing her

 

"where am i?". "phone service in heaven?"

 

the voice became louder and louder as she regained her conscience. "am i not dead?"

"hello miss crowne. AJ here. director asked me to brief you about today's shoot"

"you enter your house, find your boyfriend dead, search for the killer, dodge his bullets, kill him, escape from 40 thugs surrounding you dodging their bullets and get out of the house before the whole place blows up".

"this is more like it", she said replacing the receiver.
  

My experiences with Thatha

Thatha had always been a man of few words. He was soft-spoken and concise. Thatha liked to be around family, loved his family, however he seldom expressed his feelings. He took pride in his roots and placed great value on matters of ancestral importance. He was quick to adapt to the new technologies. He carried a cellphone with him and was in sync with the internet age.

Thatha was very systematic in everything he did. He lived by the clock, but also had time for everything. He was punctual and most times early for his appointments.

Thatha loved his work. To say he lived to work is an understatement. From my experiences, Thatha would prioritize his work over family. Of course talking of Thatha’s professional success is not complete without mentioning about his wife, my grandmother. As a person as dedicated to work as Thatha was, he did not have time for family, and that is where my grandmother shined and still shines. My grandmother is to the family what my thatha is to his work and DLA.

Thatha did have a lot of respect for her. “She is like a mother to me”, he often told. Some years back my grandmother was admitted to the hospital. It was perhaps the only time I saw Thatha very upset. He would sit in the hospital corridor everyday waiting patiently for my grandmother’s recovery.

Thatha was not a typical grandfather. He did not shower me with gifts, but did instill values. From my very young age Thatha would emphasize on family values; teaching difference between want and need; importance of saving money and investing on land. If we walked to a place instead of hiring an auto, Thatha would give me the money and tell me I earned it. Thatha did not like borrowing money or taking gifts from others. He would often say that it would cause unnecessary obligation towards the giver. While I did not understand most of his ideals at that time, now as I grow older, I realize I learnt some of life’s important lessons very early, from Thatha.

Thatha loved to watch movies. Occasionally he stayed up late at night to watch a movie. He enjoyed the experience of watching the movie more than the movie itself. Thatha also liked to hike and explore the wilderness.

Thatha lived a simple life and was never attached to any material objects, unless it was of ancestral importance to him. He would not spend money on himself, but saved everything for this family. One cannot guess how much I achieved by studying his lifestyle. Thatha was actually an open book, an affable person by nature, who single-handedly handled many hardships to make sure his family was comfortable and successful.

I am blessed to have Prof. V. I. Subramoniam as my Thatha, and hope to make him proud one day.

Curd rules!

In South-Indian cuisine, Curd RULES! That's pure "Thayiranny".

பூ Movie - Too long

Tamil cinema sees success in 2 contradicting ways. On one end it is the high budget, corporate funded movies, featuring grand stars; and in the other end is the surprisingly low budget movies, casting mostly new talents.

The best examples of the latter are Anjathey, Chennai 600020, Subramaniyapuram, Kanchivaram, Paruthiveeran, and the likes. Poo is the latest movie which was made to attract such audience once again. I must say that I like all the above movies, but think that Poo failed miserably as a story.

The truth is there is no story. Just the time, moving very slowing; which makes one wonder will something ever happen. But nothing happens until the very end, except for a bad feeling of having wasted some time. Atleast I am happy I didnt go to the theatres.

the end.

Kamal Hassan the best!

I wanted to pen this down for a long time: Kamal is my favorite director as well as actor, who can sing, dance, and do wonders on and off screen. He is also the most handsome actor.

There is no one like Kamal in the tinsel world.

the legend continues...

Kanchivaram - Beautiful attention to details

I saw the movie kanchivaram yesterday. Just beautiful. No kuthu songs, no comedy tracks, just pure story to keep me glued for 2 hours.

The story happens pre-independence continuing a bit post-independence until 1948. The picturization and attention to details makes the journey of PrakashRaj very enjoyable.

The story itself is very touching and focusses on a poor weaver's life, and his dream to weave a silk saree for his daugher, on her wedding.

And the beauty of the story-telling was many things were explained visually.

No need to comment on Prakash Raj's performance. As usual, awesome. The supporting characters including Shriya Reddy and his friend fitted in perfectly. All in all I think it is a very well-made, enjoyable, and to an extend disturbing movie.

the end.

P.S. :Talking about PR's performance, I think one of his best performances (and the one I liked the most), was in the movie Appu. I think it is a brilliant role, and only he could have done that.

Word of thought...

I wonder what Veena's parents mean when they call me mapillai. Is it:

1. "ma"-pillai - meaning Amma pillai

2. ma -"pillai"- meaning big-son a.k.a. son-in-law

3. "ma-pizhlai"- meaning big-mistake.

the end.

Finding Mrs. Me

Finding Mrs. Me

I am just an ordinary guy. My schooling, college, and professional life was somewhat void of one thing - ladies. While I had good friends in school, I was an unofficial member of the "anti-kadalai" gang in college... and was content looking at couples (actually only ladies) from a far distance in the SW firm I worked for. Though I don't take pride in not socializing with them, I thought it was an extra effort to actually maintain some amount of contact with them. Knowing that I was not good in that aspect, there were few concerns that crossed my mind. "Will I get married? Will I find my better half?"  And some other times it was the inquisitiveness to know who it was. "She's there somewhere", Amma would say often. Wish it was cinema where the next frame would be heroine intro. As fate be it, the passive but eternal search for Mrs. Me ended in Cincinnati. There she was waiting all this time for me :- well actually she landed some days before. The wind, the birds, the waves which stopped still after my separation with Amma - resumed. I acknowledge the best relation in this world is a mother. Actually its a mother who makes this world the best place. Either way,I was happy to find traces of Amma in her, in everything. Cinematically speaking she saved me from desperation. Honestly I am too young to be desperate on marriage, or to comment on the long-wait some people have to find the ideal-self. But finding her at the right time saved me from resembling the Chinna Thambi "yenakku kalyanum" guy. Long before I started thinking about the thesis proposal, I actually proposed, and defended successfully. While she could have chosen to say the easy NO, she took the hard YES path. ("S" is hard - see how curvy it is). And she diligently followed it with efforts to convince her parents that I am in fact from the same planet. And finally, in a few days, I will have a new role to play. "With new role comes new responsibility?" NO. I am responsible to the extend of being myself, knowing that someone is there  to take care of things. And I can develop added-irresponsibility. NO more caring about washing dishes, washing clothes, cleaning house, and cooking something edible - the jobs I did since leaving home. After all, its home again.  Hmmm... looking back the things we shared, 2 years didn't look a long time to know each other so well. Probably it was longer than 2 years, much longer. I don't know, but it feels so. And when we feel something we acknowledge it. And when we acknowledge it, we know how important it is. Ofcourse we are important to each other. I wonder why I even brought this sentence. But then, you cannot stop feeling blessed when you know how important you are to the people you love the most.   Goodbye bachelorhood, I am leaving you for good. the beginning... Original Post: http://sites.google.com/site/subrowedsveena101908/finding-mrs-me

Majic Jack

I recommend this product, majic jack, which is an intermediate step between VOIP and internet chat. Technically it is a jack, to be plugged into your computer USB. Any telephone can be plugged into the other end of the jack and used. One great feature is that it autoloads the drivers necessary from the jack itself, so you just have to wait for 5 minutes on a computer with internet connection, and you are ready to go.

It is comparable to traditional VOIP for reasons:

1. You get a US based number

2. Caller ID, Answering Machine, etc.

3. Portable: connect to any computer, anywhere and still use the same number.

However it differs from VOIP in sense:

1. It needs to be plugged into a computer, which means the computer should be ON while using it.

2. Technically its a phone, but practically the computer cannot be ON 24 hrs, so thats a downside. However you can go online and check the messages you missed.

Cost: $20 per year which is lowest possible VOIP connection.

Verdict: I bought one for my mother in India. She uses airtel connection and the connection and call quality is brilliant. I think its a cheap, alternate way to connect to India or other international locations.

the end.

Vaaranam Aiyuram

One of the most awaited movies of the year, VA, is a technically solid, sound, and enjoyable movie. Surya is brilliant. It was unbelievable to see him as a school boy, and an ageing old man, all in the same movie. Due praise to the brain behind it, Gautam Menon.

But I found the movie a confusing mix of too many things. Were they trying to portray the strong yet mostly unnoticed father-son relation?

Were they showing the journey of a young man, and how his father played an important step moulding him along the way. I dont want to confuse more adding the possibilities, but the movie was a heavy mix of many complicated things. There was too much to stuff in the 3 hr long movie, that many relations or scenes were minimal. Like the romance between Surya and Sameera in US was very short lived.

And taking this movie to be a contribution to father-son relation, I am inclined to compare it to Thavamae Thavamirunthu, a technically normal, but high-impact movie. With due respects to VA team and their great efforts, I think it is nowhere close to TT. 

Overall, the outstanding feature of this movie remains Surya's acting, makeup, and possibly the last composition of Harris Jayaraj for Gautam Menon, though the screenplay could have been more comprehendible. 

the end.