Reflections

I have been watching a lot of Al Pacino movies of late. Have downloaded a few more which I need to watch. Have also seen a lot of ads on " Righteous Kill" starring Al Pacino and De Niro which has hit cinemas recently. Of the ones I have seen so far, I was particularly impressed with " Scent of a Woman ". It is a total contrast from the usual Al Pacino movies and Al Pacino has done an excellent portrayal of a blind colonel. Fittingly he has received the Oscar Best actor award for this. I have been fortunate to see two other good portrayals of a blind man on screen. Naseeruddin Shah in Sparsh (Hindi) and Kamal Hassan in Raaja Paarvai (Tamil). Somehow I see a lot of similarities in mannerism between the 3 of them. Sparsh was released in 1980, Rajapaarvai in 1981 and Scent of a woman in 1992. Kamal must have definitely seen Sparsh and Shah must have influenced him but what about Pacino? Whatever it is , all three are great movies and a must watch. If you have not see...

Logging into Blogger after a long time. My daughter has started playing around with words. I was impressed with this particular one which is her first poem :-) Hi.. Bye.. Where can I fly? Can I fly in the water? Where Should I fly? Or Why should I fly? So many questions to answer! When I fly What if I cry? Maybe I should be a dancer..

I think this is the most recent one I wrote. Written in Oct 2006 :-) தனிமையில் அமர்ந்தேன் வாழ்க்கையை மதிப்பிட்டேன் நினைவுகள்.. நிகழ்வுகள்.. அனுபவங்கள்.. கனவுகள்.. (என் முன்) தோன்றின . . மறைந்தன . . கடந்த காலம் வீணான உயிர் மூச்சாய்த் தோன்றிட தோன்றியது வருங்காலம் வீணாகும் உயிர் மூச்சாய் அழகான ஓர் அமைதி மனம் எங்கும் பரவ கடந்ததும் இனி வருவதும் வாழ்வும் அதன் முடிவும் (நின்றன) சமமாய் என் முன்னே

Number two .. Again concept taken from my uncle's poem and modified in Mar 1997 to see if I could write :-) இன்னமும் இருக்கிறேன் நண்பர்க்குப் பகை ஆனாலும் நம்பிக்கை தீர்ந்து போனாலும் முடிவகளுக்கு அன்னியமானாலும் கனவுகளில் தோற்றம் இழந்தாலும் முகத்தில் கருமை படர்ந்தாலும் கண்களில் ஒளி குறைந்தாலும் இன்னமும் இருக்கிறேன் சில முகங்களின் சிரிப்பில் இனிமையான உன் நினைப்பில் நீல வானின் நட்சத்திரம் என்றாவது என் கையில் மோதிரமாய் ஒளிரும் என்கிற குருட்டு நினைப்பில் இன்னமும் இருக்கிறேன் நான் இருக்கிறேன் அதுவல்லவோ முக்கியம்?

My daughter got hold of one of my old note books while we were cleaning my book shelf. It was full of poems that I had written over a few years. I am giving the first one below. This was the first time I tried writing a poem way back in Mar 1997. I took one of the poems written by my uncle and tried to see if I could write something on similar lines. All lines to be interpreted as a young boy talking about his mother :-) நான் இன்று உன்னிடம் வருவேன் மார்கழி மாதப் பனிக் காற்றாய் மாலை நேரத்து இளம் தென்றலாய் நான் இன்று உன்னிடம் வருவேன் ஒரு மழலையின் ஆர்வத்தோடு கண்கள் விரிய நீ கதை சொல்வது எத்தனை அழகு என்று சொல்லிப் போவதற்கு . . நான் இன்று உன்னிடம் வருவேன் மழையைக் கொணரும் கரு முகிலாய் இன்பம் பொங்கும் கடல் அலையாய் நான் இன்று உன்னிடம் வருவேன் என் நெற்றியில் விழும் முடி விலக்கி நீ கனிவாய் பதிக்கும் முத்தம் எத்தனை அழகு என்று சொல்லிப் போவதற்கு . .

I have been reading Amartya Sen’s “The Argumentative Indian” for quite sometime now. While Amartya Sen is a renowned Economist and a Noble Laureate, he is not much of a historian and this book stands testimony to that. The comments on the back of the book claim a lot about this being the best account of Indian history that must be read by every Indian. I beg to disagree. I strongly feel that Dr.Sen should focus on Economics and leave history to historians. The book is supposed to be a collection of essays on Indian culture, History and Identity. However there is a lot of repetition in all the essays and what stands stark clear is Dr.Sen’s limited knowledge of Indian History. All the essays revolve around one or all of the below points though the titles are different: The Bhagavad Gita as an argument between Krishna and Arjuna in the Mahabharatha Javali’s argument with Rama quoted in Ramayana Akbar’s forming Din Illahi as a combination of religions Dr.Sen’s strong views against the BJP ...

12th Jan The conqueror of Mt.Everest is no more. I remember reading in General Knowledge while in school about Edmund Hillary’s feat. Over the years I had not bothered much about Ed but today he had made the headlines and I read about him in the morning Newspaper. Beyond his achievements and the work done by him in Nepal to set up clinics and schools, which the article mentioned, there were 2 points that brought out Ed's humility which really impressed me. Though he was the one who started the expedition and Tenzing Norgay was only his guide, it seems he refused to accept till Tenzing passed away that he was the first man atop Mt.Everest. In spite of being one of the greatest adventurers of the century, he preferred calling himself an “ordinary person with ordinary qualities”. Ed did not have a picture of himself taken on top of the Mt.Everest. The only photo taken was that of Tenzing at the summit, which was taken by Ed himself. It seems Ed remarked later that “As far as I knew, h...