Impressions and Observations

Toy Story - At last watched the movie. And more than P it was we, the adults who enjoyed the movie to the max. The hall was packed to the max capacity and the movie is still running to packed houses crossing more than 50 days - awesome isn't? Aathukarar made the mistake of ordering the popcorn along with the ticket while booking online. The mistake proved to be a costly one - in the sense i vowed i would never have more than a handful of popcorn again. Antha alavukku thegattipochu(large one). When he went and asked for the popcorn while entering the hall , the attendant said that he would bring it in once the movie starts. So, we went and sat and almost everyone especially the ones who were sitting next, previous and the opposite rows were happily munching their popcorn amidst drinking their colas.

Avvalavuthaan P started his paattu - appa popcorn venum every 60th second. Aathukarars reply was "dei 80 rupees * 3 - 240 extra pay panni irukken da kandippa vanthurum". But instead of watching the short film "day and night" (shown before the actual movie) he was keeping his eyes firmly on the entrance and repeating the japam every 60th second. At last it came. And ippo eppodaa intha tub mudiyumnu aayiduthu.

On to the movie - I actually enjoyed the whole episode and the scene which i especially liked was the last one where Andy plays with the little girl after giving all of his toys to her. Though he was going to college he didn't mind playing with the small girl especially his imaginary games with his favourite toys.

While going through forums esp parentree lots of discussions would be centred upon one topic - My child is playing with her toys and speaking to them . She also plays imaginary games and speaking to herself. Ist good or bad? But after watching this movie i really feel the fear is unwarranted.

Naan Magaan alla - Ippo i think the trend is to make realistic movies. Okay i agree, but the realism is turning out to be ugly and unimaginable. Iam not into the argument that the movie is inspired from real life incidents or the criminals are influenced by movies. Lets not get into that. Atleast lets not glorify the incidents and highlight them. This was the feeling i got after watching half of the movie. I didnt really have the inclination to watch the rest. Though the movie had some original scenes (mind original) rest of them were usual like showing the girl and her family as one loosu, ever fighting sister esp for the remote and shouting annna at the top of her voice and sentiment scenes with amma and appa .... sss appaaaa thaanga mudiyala ...ithukku paiya ve better.
OKAY - a big ok why means - iam sick of seeing all the sophisticated villains who find new ways of doing the crimes. I simply hated Vettaiyaadu and vilayadu, kaakka kakka and anjathey for the portrayal of sensitive scenes. It really has its own impact. Though i watched only half of the movie it kept on coming in rewind mode. Such an ordinary soul kke intha impact na think of the sensitive persons over there. Movie is for pure entertainment. Okie u give message like showing the plight of bonded labourers as such in angaadi theru or like shankar movies who thinks he gives some message.(though its like the energy drinks claiming to give you extra energy - people donot think of the energy at the end of the day but only a means of pushing the milk into the kid in some form or other).

Madras - My memories

Somehow i like to say it as Madras than Chennai. Have been grown calling it Madras and hearing from relatives and people calling by that name. May be the name Chennai sounds better when read in news or seeing as such in flash news or to see the north indian news readers struggling to get the pronunciation better, mind i say better and not correct. ;)
All of my first 23 years i have been in mambalam and see things unfold before me. Usman road, panagal park, Venkatnarayana road or the Ashok Pillar. The only road which remains unchanged according to me is 11th avenue - Ashok nagar.
The earliest memory - after watching the prashanth starer sembaruthi (i love the song nila kayum neram - one of the evergreens of Ilayaraja - one of my all time favourite song) in Kasi theatre with my aunts and cousins. We walked all the way from the theater to our home in mambalam. Relishing the shade, greenery and neatly stacked houses. Those days there was no underground drainage and the house would be connected to the road by a slope over the drainage canal. Hardly we felt the stinking smell those days and used to admire it. The road was more similar to those in bangalore those days.
Then Usman road - So much has changed from my good old school days. I studied in one of the then popular school in T.nagar. Now, both name and fame had been to the winds and in its place remains only the IT companies (school is still there magnificently managed to shrink itself to one fourth of its original size ). I think more than anything you need passion to run an educational institution which went missing after the demise of its founder. I dont know why the roads seem to be shrinking with the passing of years. Same buildings but the road seems to me smaller than it used to be. Though T.nagar had been the hub in the past too it was not like anything we see these days. I think the main culprit would be letting those Saravana stores and other Silk stores open their shops and infecting the area with more parking vehicles and hawkers. I like the look of usman road and ranganathan street in the morning hours of the day when there would be only few shops open - especially the tea kadais and the fast food thallu vandis and the hawkers would be undoing their ropes over the big bundle of sheet covering their stocks. Mamas outside the siva-vishnu temple briskly eyeing the passersby. They would be so full of energy and enthusiasm and covered fully from head to waist with vibuthi pattai. That would itself give them a unique image. Reservation counter of mambalam railway station where people would be queuing up to book their tickets immediately on opening of the counter.
All these are etched in my memory cos i love the journey of 20 minutes by walk from my home to school. Today you cant reach t.nagar within 20 minutes even if you go by two-wheeler with todays traffic flow. sigh...

(to be contd)

Sleep

Actual Sleep vida the state before getting into deep sleep / the stage after you are out of sleep but not out of slumber - thaaan romba best moments. Intha moments school life/college life la thaaan anubavikka mudiyum - cos leave podarthu namba ishtam thaaana.
Later period depends on so many other external factors like
- school for P (avana vida namakku thaan bayangara tension for the van and esp innaikku enna lunch and snacks appadinnu decide panrathu)
- office for the aathukarar (ingeyum bfast thaan prechanai lunch kooda choice la vittudalaaam)
- our own office where our presence is essential on that particular day (eppayoo office porathunaala we cannot say no here)
- paalkaari (annaikkuthaan avalukku avasiyamaaa kanakku paarka vendi irukkum esp sundays)
- annaikkinnu test kku kaaga padikkara thambi (ennoda exam kke kan muzhichathillai, bt coffee pottu kudukkanume vera vazhi illa)
- kaarthalaye ezhunthukkara MIL (eppayanum thaan varaaanga so atleast appayaanum seekiram ezhunthirukkara maathiri scene poda vendi irukke)
All the above is for morning sleep naaa, afternoon nap especially after giving food to P and once again bath pannittu saapta peragu thookkam bayangarama kanna sokkara nerathula vara villains yaarunnna
- ithuleyum first place P kku thaaaan (amma vaa robot pannalaam, ammaaaaaaa seekiram vaa intha tamil ennannu padichu sollu, ammaaaaaaaa thanni venum... ippadi never-ending)
- seri to counter the above P thoonga vekkalaamna , classes irukke
- Courier (ithu romba bayangaramaana prechanai- athuvum pakkathu veettu courier)
- illatha oruthara thedi varavanga - enna sonnalum kekka maattanga- kadasila namba jathagatha kuduthaa thaan povaanga
- rombavum friendly neighbours
- over paasamana aathukarar ( oooh thoongariya seri poi thoongu naan disturb pannala appadinnu call senju pesittu solvar)
- iron amma
So without the above i want to sleep but not actually sleep aanaal day-dreaming with a good book and music in the back ground.

Tit bits - 2

Ravanan - Padam pudichatha illayannu enakke theriyala. Dialogues onnume puriyala, maybe theatre la paarthaa purinjirukkumo ennamo. Or iam not intellectual enough to understand the movie.
Singam - Enakku pudichirunthathu - all masala movies iam liking now-a-days infact singam and paiyaa i saw more than 3 times. Theatrela effect innum nalla irunthathu - Singam, but the costumes esp in the songs could have been better - esp family yoda paarka kashtama irunthathu esp big screen.
Karate kid - The first Jackie Chan movie which i saw was - Police Story - esp antha lights odachindu , he would jump from the top floor to the ground - arjun would have attempted the same in some movie. But in this movie he underplayed and that deserves a special mention. Mathabadi usual tamil film story - ella padathilaiyum even if it is cartoon or kids movie athu jealousy due to a girl thaaan pola. Universal formula.
No maid for the past one month - so its like always busy doing something or the other - half-brother at home preparing for his exams - the thing is ennoda aathukararkke i dont do things much - bt menakkedufying for my brother - ithuthaaan fate appadeengarthu.
P got his yellow belt successfully - i think its more of steps and they are not strict with respect to the kids. But i should say thrice a week class has its own effect with 1 hr being full of physical exercises and the rest 45 minutes for the actual karate steps. P actually like his classes but would almost oppethufy all the grueling exercises. He would just bend his neck for the steps requiring him to bend forward fully. And regarding the roll-ons he would coolly say, sir enakku varaathu.
Went to landmark for purchasing books for P - spent almost close to 2.5 hrs in just kids section still ennamo time poraatha maathiri irunthathu. Staff need to arrange the books according to the titles or publications. Its difficult considering the people who just place the books wherever they feel like, still they can follow some sort of discipline. I would like to spend a whole day there without bothering about school van or lunch or other chores. I just love browsing especially books.
Went to Mahamudra, a restaurant from isha life - i just loved the mysore masala dosai there - yummy wheat pongal and the idly - perfect sambar and chutney and they give karuvepilai thogayal there. Vadai and the dosa - amazing with just literally no oil oozing out of it. It was just me and aathukarar after dropping P in his school - just saw a board and went inside to explore. I liked the decor and the ambiance, they have spa and fitness centre, and also a small boutique . I would like to purchase the various bathing oils and candles sometime. Worth trying.
Last but not the least,
Was giving food to P, he was continuously drinking water
Me : P pothum thanni kudichathu, apparam mammu saapda maatta.
P : Illama naan thanni kudikkala jus sip thaan panren (all the while sipping the water )
Me : P poi sollathaa, sonnatha kelu.
P : P kku poi solla theriyaathu (with right modulation and the expression)
LOL................ Vijay padam paakkarthaala vantha punch dialogue mania nnu nenaikkaren

Happenings - June'10

P successfully stepped into his I standard and touch wood - never complained about the change of sections which separated B his best friend. Though he did mention few times , he took it in his stride - yet to feel the full impact i suppose.
Went to B's birthday party at Pizza Corner. P enjoyed the whole evening with the attention showered on him by all of B's acquaintance including friends and relatives. His parents , grandparents and all other relatives were very much eager to catch a glimpse of P (oh neethan P ya, B unnapathi than eppavume sollindu iruppan). His father was saying , " P i think has got more authoritative influence over B, whenever we ask him the reason for not finishing his lunch he would reply as - P moodi vekka sollittan paaa". Actually kathai ennaanna P inga veetla vanthu B sonnannu solluvaaaan. Ithula ethu poi ethu unmai. On the whole kids are smart enough to fool the parents nnu nenaikkaren .
First trip on our anniversary to mark 7 yrs of Happy Married life (athu happy ya illayannu aathukarar ah thaniya kettaathaaan theriiyum).
Googled about kodaikkanal - resorts, sight-seeing, availability of hotels, Food, route-map and tickets...
Then about Yercaud, then yelagiri and then Goa . And after prolonged research and continuous googling got tired and abandoned the project and got back to my routine life.
Then all of a sudden tickets were booked, hotels arranged and finally boarded the train - destination - Mysore. (Kadaisiyaaa vacationnnu engeyaanum ponaaa thevalangara maathiri aayiduthu) [Realised at last that aathukarar was postponing the trip religiously to make it an anniversary special ;)]
13 hours of travel - train late and added to that coach was flooded due to the rain - athuvum right below our seats - all the more made it difficult. But the scenic beauty captured at the time of dawn compensated everything. En route to Mysore from Bangalore (appothaan veliya paakka mudinjathu athu vera vishayam and the travel time was 5hrs) had its own charm and we were all engrossed with that. P was rather in a irritable mood and whenever we show him something would say - seri, naan erkanave paarthuten. No amount of cajoling helped in this. Lack of sleep put him through a bad mood, but he enjoyed sleeping in the upper berth. Only person who practiced sit-sleep was aathukarar who sat all the way near P and at times tried to accomodate himself near P in somewhat called sleeping position but all the more realised the former was better than the latter.
Atlast reached Mysore and three days went in a jiffy. Started writing a travelogue but didnt have the mood to complete it - would soon post it.
Attended one more bday party - V, a cousin of P. Then finished three books of Nora Roberts - and after reading Northern Lights started dreaming about Alaska - would like to go sometime there. Chennai kulir kkeee AC off panra neeee Alaska poganumaaa nnu Aathukarar bayangara ootttuuuu.
Met friends and had a meeting sort of thing - MIL vambu, family politics, kids - ithukke 2 hrs seriyaa pochu. Before marriage kooda perusa ethuvum uruppadiya pesa mattom , but atleast we would talk about ourselves or something funny. But, now-a-days it has become more of a complaints session. The drawing of conclusion - either nee parava illa or naaan better :(
Four movies in the pipeline to watch - wil watch them and write abt them after the weekend.

Kiddie Scoop

Scene - 1
P's new adventure into ishinryu started on June 1st. So, over-enthusiastic mom took him early to the class. Since no one was around we decided to kill time by getting into Sathyanarayana koil. But P had other plans of visiting his cousin (daily pona nalla irukkathu illaya). He came without any enthusiasm and when we were praying lord lakshmi narasimhar, he started to climb the iron bars there. Mama asked him not to do . So he was all the more cranky.
" Enakku ummachi ye theriyala eppadi paakarthu?"
Next we were doing prathakshanam for anjaneyar. He was parakku pathufying (appadiye ammava kondu irukkaaan) So i told him to pray. Immediately his retort was,
"Ummachi sevichukko sevichukkonnu solra aaana anga ummachi enga irukku, verum statues thaane irukku" " En antha statues ellam decorate panni irukka?"
One moment shock , and after regaining said control told him that ummachi is worshipped in that form and asked him to recollect narasimhar story of " thunilum iruppar and thurumbilum iruppar"
Aaanaaalum avan ennavo convince aaana maathiri theriyala.

Scene - 2

While visiting the library usually i make it my point to get one book for P as well. So this time it was " Stories of Pirates". I got this book just yesterday. Today i had some work so left him with paatti and went ahead. While i was leaving he asked me about the library book and once i gave it to him he started reading it. I left him as such and went without disturbing him.
On my return, my paatti called me and told me in a hush tone,

Patti -" Nee oru book kuduthiye athu enna book"
Me - Story book maaa, childrens story book , pirates book ,en kekkara?
Patti - Illa antha book avan full ah padichaaan
Me - Oh good very good
Patti - Illa kelu, athu padichuttu enakku katha sonnan, ithu hero villain ,avan sanda poduvaaan, ellaaraiyum kaapathuvaan appadinnu
( then her tone became more of concerned sort and with lots of kavalai)
Apparam etho oruthan oru ponna rope pannuvaaan nnu sonnan athu nalla book thaaane?
Me - Couldnt control laughter at the expression and more of the understanding .... ROFL non-stop .......
The story goes as follows the pirates tie the girl with the rope and P in his enthusiasm explained to her in this format as - avan avala rope la katti poduvaaan nnu solrathukku bathil rope panniduvaaan nnu solli irukkan :)
LOL..............
Apparam avangalukku explain senju mudikkarthukkulla bayangara comedy ya pochu...

Brahmotsavam - Kancheepuram

1. Vahanams at the utsavam

2. Presiding deity - Devarajaswamy

The word “Brahmotsavam” immediately brings Thirupathi to our mind. Infact it’s a ritual which is common to all the perumal temples.

Origin of Brahmotsavam

(script courtesy - http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/apr99/0147.html )

Brahmotsavam means "Grand celebration" or a "celebration performed by Brahma".

Lord Indra once killed a Brahma-raakshasa (a Brahmin with demonic characters). In doing so, he incurred a great sin of killing a Brahmana- "Brahma hatya dosham(BHD)". To relieve Indra of this burden, Lord Brahma conducted a ceremony. In this ceremony, officiated by Brahma himself, Indra held Sriman Narayana ( Lord Vishnu) on his head during the special ritual bath "Avabritha Snaanam". This verily was the first Brahmotsavam.

Because of the immense cleansing power of Brahmotsavam, this utsavam is periodically performed in Temples to wash away all sins that may have been incurred in the community as a whole. It is said that the Lord Brahma himself rendered the first Brahmotsavam seva (service) to Lord Venkateshwara (Vishnu) of the Thirumalaishrine. Indeed, it is a common
belief that every Brahmotsavam is witnessedby Lord Brahma. In recognition of this, a well decorated empty chariot ispulled in front of the chariot carrying the deities at the processions heldduring the Brahmotsavam Brahma is believed to be seated in that chariot and oversee the celebration. Thus, Brahmotsavam is also referred to as "Brahmapratyakshotsavam" (celebration conducted right in front of Brahma). The earliest inscribed record of Brahmotsavam at the Thirumala Temple is 650 AD.

In kancheepuram it is conducted during the tamil month vaigasi which usually falls in the period May/June. The presiding deity is called Devarajaswamy – perundevi. The whole temple town wears festive look during the period. Its such a sight seeing the deity taken in a traditional Pallakku with huge umbrellas. Only thing which keeps on bothering even after the festival is the plight of the people who carry this. Its such a heavy pallakku with three priests standing on it with huge umbrellas. And more than two dozens of people on either side carry it in the scorching sun on their shoulders. Since this is “God” they cant even wear their slippers but only the socks. I somehow feels all the punniyam would only go to these people who carry the pallakku though the rituals are done by the priests. Not to leave behind the scores of Maamas who go before the procession chanting the vedams. I learnt later that the native people who have moved out of the town and landed in plum jobs make it their point to be present during this time just for attending this urchavams and to serve in the temple.

We got to watch only 3days event due to the warring schedule of P and aathukarar. Next time planning to attend whole Urchavam there. The thing is if you are present during the Kodi etham on the first day, you cannot leave the town for the next 9 days.
The mandagapadi which I wrote earlier in this post http://oreponnu.blogspot.com/2009/06/reminiscing-about-kancheepuram.html was on 29.05.10 this time . And if you keenly observe the Perumal’s face, you can find it is unfinished with few holes here and there. There is a story behind this. Its been passed on by word of mouth, so iam not sure of the authenticity. Since the statue was found in a dilapidated condition, the temple authorities tried to restore it . The sculptor after restoring the body started with the face and the moment he kept his chisel on the face, there was gushing of blood from the idol. As soon as he witnessed them he fell on to the floor breathless. The following night perumal came in the dream of the temple administrator and asked him to leave the idol as such. While I googled for the source of this story I was unable to locate. If you could find anything on this kindly pass on to me.

The above picture is the scanned copy of the invitation (courtesy of invitation-Kumaran Silks, T.Nagar, Chennai)
The temple’s website -http://www.kanchivaradarajartemple.com/home.html (could have been better)