Tuesday, March 26, 2013

புலிநகக் கொன்றை - பி ஏ கிருஷ்ணன்

A modern Tamil cult classic.

This is a story of four generation of a South Indian Iyengar family.This family has a history of violent death. This story beautifully brings the lifestyle of Iyengers with their customs and habits.Its very new for me and i learnt so many things about them.
எக்கர் ஞாழல் இறங்கிணர்ப் படுசினைப் 
         புள்ளிறை கூருந் துறைவனை 
உள்ளேன் தோழி படீஇயரென் கண்ணே .
                                        -அம்மூவனார் (ஐங்குறுநூறு ,142)
The story starts with Ponna getting married to Raman-good for nothing guy.His is a family of money lenders who supports British.How the family overcome all the  struggles and continue their lives is the story.There are so many characters which one can definitely associate themselves.The political stance of various characters are very interesting and inside the same family there are lots of contradiction in their political principles .

Apart from Ponna, the character which I liked most was Nambi, her grandson. He believed in doing good things to people than following any political views.Even though he liked Marxism but he is not happy with comrades who were not following and doing anything for the people.He was brutally murdered and the manner in which the author leads his death says volume about the politics of those days.He married Rosa -a doctor.Their love story was very familiar., two of them attracted towards their belief.

And there is a beautiful story of Uma and Kannan and their romance.Two very different individuals falling in love and the way author portrayed their feelings was excellent specially the letters between them. Another memorable character Gopala Pillai who always talks about books and cricket.I loved this character.
I enjoyed and laughed loudly when i read pages which describes the three leading actors of those time - MGR,Sivaji and Gemini Ganeshan. In fact i laughed very loud everyone at the bus stop stared at me but i did not mind anything and continue to laugh for sometime.Some historical figures too appears in this book like Veera Pandiya Kottabomman,Oomaidurai ,VOC, Bharathi etc.Since the novel is laced with so many historical references these characters adds values to it. Kudos to the author for his wonderful research.The book also points the fall of once mighty Arbuthnot bank.

So many interesting things are there in this book ,from religion to politics to academics. Love this book.This book was first written in English and then translated by the author himself in Tamil. In English this book is titled " The Tiger Claw Tree". I liked this author B.A Krishnan's essays which was published in Kalachuvadu specially the one about Marudhu(Marudhu Pandian) brothers.

Overall this book is a classic which chronicles the trial and tribulation of not only four generations of an Iyengar family but also so many other things of those times.
P.A Krishnan

Some of the books mentioned in this novel:
1.The Social History of England by Travelyan
2.The Lady Wrestler
3.Farewell to Cricket by Don Bradman
4.Beyond the Bamboo Curtain
5.The History of CPSU(B)
6.Left Wing Communism
7.Animal Alphabet -Edward Lear
8.The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - Shirer
9.Arabian Nights
10.Guy Mannering
11.The Talisman
12.The Mayor of Casterbridge

*From the big Willy himself
*The Marriage of True Minds
*Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
*Sudden Light


Monday, March 25, 2013

Carnival Run 2013


This was 5KM race around Bedok Reservoir park. I had run many times around this place, always admired the beauty of the reservoir.The weather was good, cloudy and breezy.Race started on time at 6PM, the mayor flagged off the race.

I started briskly and was consistent till 3 kilometers but after it, i struggled a bit, not sure why, slowed down a bit and finished the race with good timing. I noticed lots of Indians in this race, good !. After the race i felt bit tired but i was ok after 5 minutes of stretching .After the race there were lots of other activities to raise funds. I waited to see the top 20 finishers in both male and female categories.The first place male runner took only 15m 59s , that was a great timing.Well done and congratulations to all the winners.


Volunteers were awesome.since it was not a big race(in terms in race KM and number of runners) the volunteers too were less but very impressive.Well done mates!

In the bus:
After the race i took the bus back to my home. The bus was almost full ,luckily i got a seat. Next to my seat was a Indian family (Husband,wife and a little girl). All had a device on their hand, father -iPad, mother - iPhone5 and daughter iPhone4. Thats not interesting nowadays all the families are like that only. But what irritated me was that the little girl was shouting something to the father but the father kept on playing something on his iPad.Everyone in the bus heard what the girl told (In fact she was telling that she was in Singapore and she remember that the bus was going towards Tekka and asking her father about the places and  some songs...). The mother did not asked the girl not to shout ,in fact she did not listen to the girl, she was busy with games on her iPhone.

Everyone got irritated , in fact , the girl's curiosity about the bus and bus stops were not at all minded by her parents, feel very bad for them. If we do not teach our kids enjoy the travel then there is no use in travelling.
Curse on devices or our attitudes, whatever it may be but  its not good. I really felt bad for the little girl. 


Wednesday, March 20, 2013

நாளாம் நாளாம் புனித நாளாம்(Naalam Naalam lyrics)


One of my favorite Christian song.Whenever i listen this song i felt the presence,K.J Yesudas at his best.


நாளாம் நாளாம் புனித நாளாம்
மாதவம் மேரியின் பிறந்த நாளாம் -2                      
                         
                            (1)
அன்பான தெய்வத் தாயாரின் நாளாம் -2
அருளான கன்னித் தாயாரின் நாளாம் .
ஏகாந்த மானதொரு நாளாம்
இனிதான நாளாம் -2.

Gloriya Gloriya Gloriya Gloriya  Gloriyayin excelsis deo -நாளாம்

                            (2)
தேவனும் தாமுமே பேசிட்ட நாளாம்  -2
துயர்கள் தாமுமே தேடிட்ட நாளாம்
ஆனந்தம் பொங்கும் ஓர் நாளாம்
அமுதான நாளாம் .-2

Gloriya Gloriya Gloriya Gloriya   Gloriyayin excelsis deo -நாளாம்

                           (3)
தெய்விக அன்போர் கன்னியின் வழியாய் -2
தாவிதின் குடியில் பிறந்திட்ட நாளாம் .
மண் புவி காணாதோர் நாளாம்
தெய்விக நாளாம் . -2

Gloriya Gloriya Gloriya Gloriya   Gloriyayin excelsis deo -நாளாம்

Now listen to K.J Yesudas's divine voice

Monday, March 11, 2013

Radio and Me


On Sunday(10-03-2013) as usual i went to wet market and bought fishes and met some grandpas and grandmas who were all very kind to me in explaining everything about fishes and Chinese vegetables.While returning back home i saw an old radio throughout by our neighbor.That radio took me to my childhood and college days.

Childhood:
My memory says it was my uncle who introduced radio to me, he used a  small radio to listen cricket commentary.He was a big fan of West Indies and Srilanka cricket team.Now and then he tuned Roopavahini  -a Srilankan radio station and listen Tamil songs.We too had one big black and silver color radio with big tuners and buttons. I was never interested any device or machine, it was my elder brother who did all sort of things to listen to Tamil and Hindi songs. Like in late 80's and early 90's my brother liked to hear songs with full volume. We all hooked to the Maestro's compositions.I did not remember hearing any news or interviews in radio those days.Then came the magical cassette player which changed the way we heard songs. We can stop,reverse,forward and record too, wow, all our evening time spent with that magical device. My brother was fond of car-set , a big square shape cassette player and he saved enough money and bought an assembled set(we bought all spare parts and electrician assembled it).

I still remember the first day of that assembled player in our room.Ours is a small room with one cot with bed and one wooden table and with a shelve. We kept the cassette player on the first rack of the shelve and kept the two big speakers on each corner of the top slab.Our first song was a Hindi song from "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayinge". No words to express our joy on that moment. My brother raised volume to full and it was rattling! and my mother started shouting us to reduce the volume but we were flying.Wonderful moments! We had a great time with that loud speakers, until my brother's death. The speakers were silenced forever in my house.

College:
I never had a luxury of listening what i liked in my late teen years. I always heard what others in the place heard but everything changed the arrival of two things.First my uncle who gave walkman to my family which i took and went to college and the second was the arrival of Suriyan FM. I did not hear much in that walkman as we lost that soon. But Suryan FM changed the routine of hostel days.The way Suryan FM promoted was amazing,everyone started asking and shown interested in that. 93.5 became mantra for us.I remember some RJs, Daison Joseph with his trademark voice and Yazh Sudhagar with his poems for each songs,were stood out. And there was one female DJ , i forgot the name ,she was also good.

During Saturday and Sunday  our radio was playing non-stop.When we moved out of hostel and  stayed out in a house we had a small radio which was our only entertainment.Where ever we went Suryan FM followed us in those days. We had lot arguments about the song, musicians and singers through the radio listening but we all united whenever a good melody played .The radio continued to travel with us when we spent our initial jobless days at Bangalore .After we all got job,we stopped travelling with radio.Now its been many years since i heard songs in radio.Now we have internet radio stations and YouTube but there is something unique to listen to those days radio programs .Now i dont know how many radio stations are there in Tamilnadu .Are Coimbatore people still listening to Suryan FM like in 2000's?

That thrown out radio made me to revisit my childhood, my brother,my hostel ,our rented house which had initial RVS (btw thats our college name as well as first letter our names!). I will cherish those memories forever-thanks to the radio.




Friday, March 8, 2013

Our Malaysia Trip - 3

Beautiful Tanjung Balau beach...
After Crocodile World , our driver told us that we should eat our dinner at 5:30PM  and gave us only 30 minutes at Tanjung Balau beach which is located near Desaru,Kota Tinggi district. Tanjung Balau is a beautiful beach with some interesting activities.But this place is famous for its Fisherman Museum.I was really happy to see a museum which showcases fisherman's life.
Fisherman Museum
Its a small and beautiful museum,maintained neatly.It showcases the life style of fisherman with their tools and cultures.I came to know many new and interesting things.There are lots of similarities between these malay fishing communities with my own .Most of the 'indigenous' tools are similar to our tools.

The museum even showcases a model bedroom ,accessories , utensils etc of the fisherman.The things which attracted me most were the different kinds of traps.I have seen some of them in my home town.Do we have any museum like this in Tamilnadu? wondering!! We bought a hat and some toys for our daughter and started to Sungei Rengit.


To reach the hotel we have to travel another 40 minutes from the Tanjung Bulau.We reached the place called Sungei Rengit ,located at the southeastern Johor. A beautiful fishing village with lots of seafood restaurants.
Since it was Chinese New Year eve, our tour organizers arranged for a Chinese Reunion dinner.Wow! I have never seen these many varieties of food on the table.So many to eat but we have only 45 minutes to finish.Started the dinner with Shark fin soup, i had drank Shark fin soup in Singapore two or three times so i did not drink much.In fact I'm a supporter of ACRES Singapore who are fighting against Shark Fin Soup.Im not going into that, because for some communities this soup is in their culture.
Luckily for us , our fellow travelers explained all the Chinese stuffs .I really loved abalone and prawns.After our delicious meal, we started to Kota Tinggi Firefly Park- another 40 minutes drive.

This park is located at beautiful riverside and to see the Fireflies we have to go on a  boat ride.Since we can see Fireflies only at night, the organizers asked us to wait for sometime. They gave us life jacket and asked the visitors not to use flash lights. The boat ride was very good and we saw so many fireflies, awesome!
Another picturesque palace!

The boat ride lasted almost 40 minutes and it was a pleasure to watch those wonderful creatures. We had a great time.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Our Malaysia Trip - 2

After our wonderful time at Desaru Fruit Farm we went to another great place.We were supposed to go to Ostrich Farm but due to Chinese New Year holiday it was closed so they took us to Crocodile World at Telok Sengat.We were not disappointed. A great place to see lots of this lovely creatures.We traveled around the bridge and reached the Crocodile world.We got a very beautiful view of the bridge and the Johor River.

The place was neat and maintained beautifully.The important aspect of this place - no bad smell, without covering the nose you can see and enjoy these beautiful animals.The walkway ,the side wall and the over bridge across the small bond are well maintained and at optimum height so that the visitors can see Crocodiles without worrying about safety.
Crocodile without tail...
Our driver was our guide,apparently he knew lots of things about Crocodiles.He took a big rod and showed how  Crocodile pounce on their victim.The crocodiles were kept in different enclosure according to their age.At particular time they capture the crocodiles and there is a separate butchery outside where they take off the skin and  butcher them. They are supplying meat  and skin to different countries including to Singapore(thats what our driver told).
Crocodile skulls...
At the entrance , one of the staff showed us a young crocodile and allowed us to touch and feel it. To my surprise the skin was so smooth , my daughter was very eager to catch it.Our driver told us that the teeth of the crocodiles are costly and they are used to make ornaments.He spent around 100 ringgits to make a pendant with Crocodile tooth for his daughter but unfortunately we did not find anything except crocodile skulls(but not for sale).

This farm is one of the largest in West Malaysia and has more than 1000 Crocodiles.Another nice place to spend time with kids and introduce these lovely creatures to them.


Our Malaysia Trip - 1