Tagore Literature Award 2010

Tagore Literature Award 2010

One of my favorite Tamil author S.Ramakrishnan has chosen for the prestigious Tagore Literature Award.I was introduced to Ramakrishnan's writing by my friend's sister who is a teacher.His weekly articles in Ananda Vikatan was so much interesting and inspiring ."Sirithu Velicham" was a great weekly articles about events happens in day to day life, he used to narrate the film story in conjunction with real life situation.I came to know about many foreign movies through these articles.Now Vikatan has published a book with the same title.

S.Ramakrishnan

"Desandhiri" was such a wonderful collection of weekly articles written by him.Its about different places,cultures and people, i learnt lot from these articles.Apart from these essays/articles he has written many short stories and novels.He was chosen for this award for the novel "Yaamam", have to read this book soon.

Congratulation sir!

More about S Ramakrishnan
Wiki

August 15

Huge disappointment!

I watched this movie only because of Mamooty.I was disappointed with the movie.The producers had wasted this wonderful actor's callsheet.A detective story with the predictive twists.A Land maffia is trying to kill the chief minister of Kerala, they employes a professional killer who is very adamant that he will kill the chief minister in spite of his failure in first attempt(he gives back the money he got but after the cajoling
he accepts it again).

There are some suspicious characters like the potrayal of Arvindan,the chief ministers close associate and of course suspicious look of Chief minister's another colleague Pinarayi who is in line for the top post.But nothing captivated me , everything looked predictable.some of the scenes were utterly without logic for instance the scene when Mamooty was in confusion to figure out the real person behind photograph and he choses the correct one after firing the bullets randomly on the photographs posted on the wall!!!.

Shaji Kailash is a good director but he failed in this movie, nothing much to say.Story by SN Swamy was with lots of loopholes.Music by Rajamani is good .Thanks a lot, there is no songs in this movie.Cinematography was ok, editing was not upto the mark.

The stand out performance was without question ,Mamooty as Perumal.He fit exactly for the role, he had done whatever he can,he is a great actor but even great actor needs good story!!Lalu Jose as Peter zacharia was hilarious.Nedumudi venu as Chief minister,'Thalaivasal' Vijay as Police officer, Siddique as a Professional killer had done thier role neatly.Jagathy sreekumar as Arvindan is occupying more space but fails to impress much.Mehna and Swetha had nothing concrete to perform, but they had done their best.

Huge disappointment!! Only for Mamooty's fans.

The Last Lecture

Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch's "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"  was/is huge youtube hit.This book details how he prepared himself for this lecture.Very interesting and sympathetic to read this book.Sympathetic because Randy knew that he would die soon and interesting because he accepts life's ups and down with great courage and the way he achieved his childhood dreams.

Once diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he did not worry too much but he put a brave front by cheering his students and his family.His father's influence on him made him strong .He had good and loving parents and sister.Randy's explanation of his family life was something to cherish, even for us.His parents never spent extra money on anything , no outside food and not much TV etc.. but they spent lavishly on buying books, which helped Randy to explore everything.

The way he pursuit his childhood dreams was very inspiring.He wanted to become a Disney Imagineer when he was a kid, he became one latter in his life.He wanted to float , he did float during his visit to space center through his request.He too worked with Star wars film specially his favorite character Jedi.He inspired his students to work together in a small projects which made them a good team player as well as a good friend.

"Live in the moment" was his way of life after the diagnosis.I have to mention here the way his wife took care of their children and the household.I can not imagine that situation.He did whatever he can do make their children knows how much their father loved him by filming videos,i felt that was unique experience , one for posterity .

Some his quotes:

When there’s an elephant in the room introduce him.


Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome.


I probably got more from that dream and not accomplishing it than I got from any of the ones that I did accomplish.


You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.


When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.


Tell The Truth. All The Time. No one is pure evil.


Show gratitude. Gratitude is a simple but powerful thing.



Find the best in everybody…. Wait long enough, and people will surprise 
and impress you. It might even take years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting.


Decide if you’re a Tigger or an Eyeore. I’m a Tigger.


It is not about achieving your dreams but living your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you.


Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.


Never underestimate the importance of having fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day, because there’s no other way to play it….Having fun for me is like a fish talking about the importance of water. I don’t know how it is like not to have fun…


Better to fail spectacularly than do something mediocre.(He gave out a First Penguin award each year when he was teaching to the biggest failure in trying something big and new because he thought this should be celebrated.) 


The best piece of parenting advice I’ve ever heard is from flight attendants. If things get really tough, grab your own oxygen mask first.


To be cliché, death is a part of life and it’s going to happen to all of us. I have the blessing of getting a little bit of advance notice and I am able to optimize my use of time down the home stretch.


Head fake learning is absolutely important, and you should keep your eye out for them because they’re everywhere.


Until you got ice cream spilled on you, you’re not doing field work.



Don’t complain. Just work harder. That’s a picture of Jackie Robinson. It was in his contract not to complain, even when the fans spit on him.

Be good at something, it makes you valuable.

Great book !Must read for students!!

Pulitzer Prize 2011

One of the prestigious awards for journalism particularly in US .There are many categories but i chose to list only few which i always looks forward every year.

Category	Winner	Work
Fiction	Jennifer Egan	A visit from the goon squad
Biography	Ron Chernow	Washington:A life
Non-fiction	Siddhartha Mukherjee	The emperor of all maladies:A biography of Cancer
Poetry	Kay Ryan	The best of it:New and Selected Poems
Editorial Cartooning	Mike Keefee	The Denever post
Feature Photography	Barbara Davidson	Los Angeles Times

For a complete list of 2011 winner's click here

I read lot about Siddhartha Mukherjee's  "The Emperor of all maladies:A Biography of Cancer", have to read this book as soon as possible. As for the biography i liked to read Ron Chernow's "Washington: A life" once i finish my current set of biographies including that of Richard Feynman.

RUN350 10KM

Date:17-04-2011
Place:Promontory@Marina Bay,Singapore
Distance:10KM

Before the race i decided to improve my timing.I was in a good condition both physically and mentally.After checking the race route ,i thought this would be a good race, since i was familiar with the route.Coming back to the race Run350 was organized by NTUC Youth for 350 Singapore.

Race flagged off by Singapore Deputy Prime minister Mr.Teo Chee Hean .I started the race briskly, completed the first 2 kilometers in 11 minutes,then i slowed down a bit.I checked breath and the hand movements ,everything was fine.I ran in a consistant pace from 5Km to 9Km, then i slowed down again.The weather was not as good as last week ,it was hot .The final 1km  initially i thought of spriniting then i realized that it was not good as felt like uneasiness in my hand,so i ran in a same pace and finished the race without any injury.To my surprise it was my personal best for 10 Km this year so far.A great run.
The event was organized wonderfully,superb volunteers.I liked the way the old people and kids  participated in this race.