A lift

If the tale is to make any sense you should read QT119

The story from the other end:

She had offered him a ride home. Something she had never done before. But he looked like the right guy to give a lift to. Tall, handsome. Well! Not really. But he had a nice smile. And seemed like someone who wasn't the everyday guy you meet at work. In the car she liked his blabbering nervousness. His discomfiture. A change from the suave and smooth James Bondian guys she had met before. Terrible weather, he discovered and she nodded. What a lame piece of cliched conversation. Terrible weather indeed. Then he burst, nice shoes, pair of good legs and blah! Then he made the cardinal sin - I don't fancy you, he declared, you are not my kind. Her face fell, a deflated balloon. Do I take a right here? Iciness in tone. He got out mumbled some thanks and ran indoors. She drove to her own lonely apartment. Why can't I have a decent relationship with someone nice? Am I a nice-guy repellant, she cried to herself. I don't want to see another human for the next ten years.

Lok Paritran - Part 3

Lok Paritran has decided to field candidates in the forthcoming elections in Tamil Nadu - initial reports suggest that a Mr.SanthanaGopalan will contest from Mylapore, Chennai.

Lok Paritran is planning its first fund-raising campaign on 30th and 31st of March along the Old Mahabalipuram Road in front of some of the IT majors. They are hoping to get a good amount of support from the young, enthusiastic software professionals. Their target audience are people working in Infosys, TCS, CTS and the like.

I was asked to make sure that this news reaches out to almost everyone interested in Lok Paritran. I would request the kind readers to circulate this news.


Let us do our best and donate generously for the noble cause.

And something I wasn't asked to pass on but feel is more important than even supporting the fundraiser- people of Mylapore (and any other constituency that they may field candidates in), the only way that they can win the elections or at least make an impact is if the educated-upper middle class and urban youth vote. A mere 50-60% voter turnout will not help the Lok Paritran. Lets donate and lets vote. Let us do our bit for the country.

Blog Review

Am thinking of a weekly or monthly blog review... where I can write about other bloggers that I have enjoyed reading. I spend more time blogsurfing than actually writing my own posts, jumping on some comment and then hopping from one blogsite to another and believe me there are so many wonderful blogs out there... its decided - blog review from now on (lets see how long this goes).

First up... lazygeek.net

Among ordinary bloggers, lazygeek's site is blogger extraordinaire and thats not just the looks of his site. There is for starters, amazing stuff on KamalHaasan and Maniratnam. Believe me when I say I am relieved that there are people in the world who think high of 'HeyRam' and 'Iruvar' - two of my all-time favourites.

And was surprised to see so many common interests/posts. Like Godfather and Marlon Brando. Like Sujatha's Katradhum Petradhum. Like dialogues from AayuthaEzhuthu that had at that time impressed me so much that I had compiled the 'Thats typical Sujatha' list (left unposted) and laments on novels turning in to pathetic movies.

Ofcourse lazygeek is more special to me than just being a blogger with similar interests.

He is very perceptive, precise and eloquent and though I stick to his blog posts on Music, Movies and Books, I think he has a wide array of interests - seems to be really geeky - talks about Google Corp., blog readers and a few other things that I can't make sense of (Ergo - I am not geeky)

LazyGeek is very popular as he keeps pointing in his blog once in a while. He has people in the bus talking about LazyGeek without realising it is his. My strong recommendation - its definitely worth it. Add to your Frequently Visited Blogs.

Lok Paritran -Part 2

Have you ever come across this line

"Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minim"

Nope. Then obviously you haven't prepared for GRE. Or perhaps not been sent the forward. That, my dear friend is how a GRE student would say "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"

Now what does that have to do with Lok Paritran, you may wonder. Well! Nothing!

Actually I was reminded of the good old days when I read wordlists on the bus, in the loo, during lectures, while awake, while asleep, just about all the time. Reminded by the 'Strategy Document' released by Lok Paritran (hmmmm... now you see I had a point). I swear to God that if I had such a passage on my RC, I would have simply walked out of the room. Here are some glimpses at Strategy, GRE style. Circumlocution, grandiloquent, filibuster, congressman, politician come to my Barrons mind.

If the fundamentals of understanding are bound or derived from the principles
rather then the intent, completeness will become contradiction.

sustained effective change in a positive direction

Accomplishments that are at a lower level, or are partial in nature, in the
absence of any sustaining mechanism, will only be compromised over time by
the
flow of degeneration from the top.

...degeneration and degradation of politics and gross intellectual bankruptcy
at even the highest levels of political organizations

OK! Enough of making fun (since everybody is going ga-ga over Lok Paritran, I figured out I shouldn't be just a part of the herd).

Seriously speaking, I think this marks a new beginning. I have a friend who is one of the possible candidates in the forthcoming TN elections. I and my friends are totally behind it (but aren't active participants as yet). Despite by skepticism I think they have their heart and mind in the right place and deserve to make a mark in the coming elections. As their strategic aim so eloquently expresses,

The current strategic aim of the party is to get able, skillful, honest and enthusiastic people involved in active politics in a structured manner so that a sustained effort can be made in the right direction.

Lok Paritran - Part 1

Conversation during lunch, a few weeks ago

Me(excited): Did you hear of the new political party being floated by IITians???
Ex-IITian Prof (yawning): Hmmm... what is it called?
Me: Paritrana... ofcourse they changed it to Lok Paritran recently. Most of the guys are from Aerospace department. They have even done Masters in the US, Georgia Tech I think, and then left everything to start this party (all in one breath-br...ea...th...le...ss)
Prof: Pariwhat?
Me(incredulously): Paritrana
Prof: What the hell does that mean?
Me: Apparently it is Sanskrit and it means relief from pain or cause of distress
Prof(softly,almost to himself): You mean like Analgesic???
Prof(now visibly irritated): Who in the right mind would name a political party Paritrana? Thats a problem with these IIT ians, they think they bloody bubbled from brain soup or something. OK! Have you done the tests I asked you to do last week. I want the report on my desk by evening
Me (wishing I was invisible): Er.... that... sooooon...er

Being the change - filmi ishtyle

Come on guys! we have been through this heaps of times before. One more time is no big deal.

I love movies with a 'social message' (my friends would say "I love movies".Period) and that long and famous list includes such movies as Gentleman, Indian, Bombay (what!!!! you don't think 'Bombay' has a social message - ppl! he married a muslim girl. And have you forgotten the last scene. Social as social gets man), Mudhalvan, Ramana, Aayutha Ezhuthu and yes! even Anniyan.

So from the list what do we learn. What is the 'social message' that our film-makers want to pass to us.

Gentleman - become a dacoit (to construct a college)

Indian - kill corrupt people (corruption is a cancer and look at small islands with a precious skyline)
Bombay - hhhhhehhhhhheeee
Mudhalvan - become chief minister (you can do much better than the jokers already in and even if you can't, how worse can it be)
Ramana- kill bad people (spew statistics and talk non-stop for twenty minutes on your topic of choice and if that doesn't kill them...well! nothing wrong in the good old knife)
Aayutha Ezhuthu - join politics (hitting a four and marching towards century) (way cooler than going to States man! Thats so passe! And guess what! girlfriend will come back to you. you have more potential than a Sivakasi millionaire man! You could well become a chiefminister. Just imagine how many sivakasi fireworks, printing press you can buy)
Anniyan-kill not only corrupt people, also indifferent people, lazy people (now I am scared), bribe-givers, law-evaders, chefs (and look at small islands with their precious skyline)

Latest addition to the list - Rang De Basanti. OK! If you tell me Rang De Basanti is not at all like that-we have a bunch of guys doing what our film-makers do the best, kill bad people.

It was a brilliant movie (and definitely one of my all-time favourites from now on) and I salute the film-maker's effort. (I am watching it again on 23rd when it finally gets released in Canberra)

I am just in one of my bull-shit everything days. Excusez-moi and indulge me.

Now here comes the important question, when will we have a movie with a social message when the hero(es) (or the heroine(s)) don't kill anyone, don't join politics and do good to the society by being, basically a normal person.

I am sure there must have been a few of those... trouble is I just can't recall many. (Vaaname Ellai, Nammavar, Anbe Sivam, Lagaan come to my mind)

What this amounts to is

1. We believe that social change can be brought about only if we a.kill bad people, b. atleast give them the scares that you just might, c. join politics and

2. Since we can't go about killing people or robbing and even your five year old neighbour is not scared of you, and since you have seen the independant candidates in your electorate lose their deposits (and are simply scared of the MLA and his goondas as well as the five year old kid in your neighbourhood)

Ergo
social change is a fantasy that we watch on the screen once every three months, blog about it, discuss/debate at great length and...

Related post - Be the change

A Quick tale

I loved her comments on my friend The Prophet's blog. There were words stolen from my brain, feelings straight from my own heart. I could see myself in those comments. Geez! You should have seen me frantically clicking the link to her own space in the blog world, a child opening a much awaited birthday present from its favourite (and rich) uncle. The page flowered slowly much to my impatience and I cursed the lethargy of my computer. A new blogger, I realise. Of course, otherwise I would have come across her before. I scan through her profile in a hurry, eager to dive deep in to her portal. She's from my city, enjoys the same movies and her favourite books have eight of my nine favourites (which doesn't surprise me at all). I click over to her blog. Just two posts on it. The first one almost significant (but not quite), something about having a cup of tea sitting by the window watching the rain, smelling the scent of rain caressing the land and I think I have read it somewhere, some forward I received years ago. The second post though were my unwritten thoughts, my philosophy of life in a nutshell. A 300 word nutshell. I have to post a comment, just have to, I decide. Needless to say I spent the next two hours, sculpting a comment that is bound to win me a friend. And just for good measure, I post another comment for the drinking-tea-in-the-rain post as well, this one less wordy, almost perfunctory. And I wait. Wait for a reply. Some reply. No, actually a reply which reflects the same feverish excitement that I feel. I checked my blog ten times that day (and hers too), waiting for a comment from a new friend. Three days I continued this routine. Then I post a comment on my comment and wonder aloud why there has been no reply. Or for that matter no new posts either. Must be busy with work, just give her a couple of days, I tell myself. A week passes by, still nothing. And the week became a month and I checked her blog less and less frequently. Still no comments and I am about to give up. Anger and disappointment flood my being. Why does it have to be like this?

And in a hospital bed (the same hospital I was born in, incidentally), slept the friend I never made, in a peacefully oblivious coma.