How True!

I have wanted to write something like this for a while. Read on..if you haven't read already.
But I agree with everything said here about the Chinese Cuisine Culture.
An interesting thing to note: The chinese word for chopsticks is basically a mangling of the word for "quick". I wont spell it here because I dont know how to i only know how to say it. It sounds like the word "quay" in english. But I do agree, chopsticks are at time quicker. But they are quick primarily because the food is served is usually in a way that makes it comfortable to eat with chopsticks.

Will we ever find out Why?

I read this today and I wondered, Why? Everyone will have someone they would like to blame. But will we ever find out Why?
'A Strange Phenomenon'

A Reply and some Rhyme - Be Warned

After a filling dinner of dumplings which traditionally, apparently marks the onset of autumn I write this post. I'm reminded of another autumn day in september about a year ago when I landed in Calgary Airport. A year! Is that how long its been? Time flies and as flying goes things so far away suddenly seem nearer. I remember it like it were yesterday and yet it was a year ago. The adventurous journey punctuated with breaks, breaks where I head out of the dream(nightmare at times) and go home to reality to face a life unchanging. Unchanging for me in many respects but people have moved on. People have changed lives, stock markets have fallen and risen and governments have changed but life for me still remained the same, a re-union with friends and loved ones, a community of people you know and will always know irrespective of whether you knew them or not. Unfamiliar surroundings breeds love for the monotony just as the monotony cries out for a break from the reality. To escape is one thing, but to live in escape another.

Sweet dreams are made of these.
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas.
Everybody's looking for something.

A break from a dream was what I sought,
Half a break I deserved,that I got!
Another half soon to come.
Too soon is not soon enough.
Bout that I wont bluff.
To sit and have no thought.
No worry- a dark blot.
No more thoughts for company.
No more of this company. :)
People real people I seek.
Where? Where from.
The future is bleak.
No more oil.
Hard Toil.

Life will change as it always does.
The fires will loose their fuzz.
The big ball in the sky burns brighter
Our hope. Earth's burdens lighter.

Worlds will change and govts will fall
But home, the concept of it stands forever tall.
Forever Tall. Forever and all?

After reading Half Gone , a book i randomly picked out from Landmark when I was home recently on vacation, I have started looking at many things differently. And for that reason I would say this is a good book. Look up this link , its pretty interesting. Even if you aren't really interested in Energy, if you enjoy doomsday predictions, you will find this interesting.

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

I have an oyster with a pearl but got not the time

I have a fetish for Bharathi's songs, I think...
"Nallathor Veenai seithu athai nalam keda puzhudhiyil erivadhundo..."

Another song from 'Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu'. You can classify it as a communist movie if you want to. It is a movie about an angry young man. A man who chooses to rise against the societal codes of conduct and manner of doing things and suffers because he goes against the grain. A man influenced by Bharathi; by the communists; a socialist and reformist at heart: an idealistic young man.

Kamal Haasan plays the angry young man remarkably well. And in my humble opinion (as a person who has watched very few Amitabh movies), he is the real angry young man of Indian cinema after the Gunasekaran in Parasakthi. His communist ideologies fit the role carved out for him by his mentor KB (K. Balachander) like the perfect pair of jeans. The colors chosen and the other characters surrounding Kamal aid in enhancing the depth of the character. Kamal fits the role to a T and the support cast pushes him to give his best and more.

I am not going to talk aboout the performances of SriDevi, MLA S.V. Sekhar et al but the other standout performer in the movie for me was Pratap Pothan. The psychotic, obsessed play director was brilliantly portrayed by our man. You can feel the anger when he sees SriDevi hold Kamal's hands or looks in his direction!!!

The music was outstanding. Bharathi, MSV (corrected after a reader pointed out the error), SPB combined like banana, honey, jaggery in a panchamrutham. The color symbolized anger and there was an undercurrent of it throughout the movie. The movie was on the edge at all times..... a KB master-piece. I salute that man. How many pieces of great cinema- none of this technology, special effects stuff- brilliant story-telling in one lifetime!!!

PS: The title translates to:
"Sippi irukkudhu muththum irukkudhu,
Thirandhu paarka naeram illadi raasathi..."
another evergreener fro the movie

Of friends, coffee and goodbyes

Last weekend, I was at home. Three days were spent in the city, largely out of the house.
Over two hours on a saturday afternoon at Landmark, followed by about an hour at Barista in the company of A~.

Amethyst: it's a lovely place. Old house, cane and now metal chairs in the garden, coffee. The crowds spoil it for me but then, when in the company of good friends, these are forgotten.
I had a good time. Visited a temple on Sunday morning, attended a quiz, met one more close friend over a cup of coffee after the now habitual trip to Landmark.

I have mixed emotions about going home. It's pleasant to go back to familiar surroundings, meet people you care for and love. Home food rocks... though my expanding waist-line could say the same about my regular meals. But leaving is hard, I don't particularly enjoy the lonely journey back or knowing that work is lined up.

This trip was even more so... so many goodbyes.
How do you say goodbye to a close friend? a loved one? to someone whose existence you had taken for granted?
A number which you'd now dial and be greeted by silence? With whom do you share the late night conversations, the meetings near the house gate, the memories of past bus journeys?

This has to be done though... you know, you knew all along, people want different things. But when you actually have to bid adieu, you wonder... is growing up worth all this?

All who left: Thanks for the memories