Influencer No.4

 One of my earlier blog (Dada,Thala,Cho) written on May 4,2020 I wrote on some of the names who have an influence in my life. Sarcasm,Nakkal,self destructive humor and talking with some substance are some of the traits I love from Cho; Leadership, Guts are some of the characteristics I like from dada and finally speaking your heart out and being humble are the characteristics I like from Thala. I mentioned there is one other person but may need one full blog to go over him and he is none other than Actor Sivakumar sir. If someone challenges me to get on debate with Rangaraj pandey or Gopinath I don't think I have any issues provided I am given some time to prepare but if people request me to go and talk to a bride who has just tied her knot and about to bid goodbye to her parents before moving with her husband and in-laws then let me admit frankly that I will not be able to accept the request. It is such a big moment for every girl (change of her surname from her dad to husband) and when she is running with lots of emotions I don't think I can talk facing her eyes. It is Rosa-poo-chinna-rosapoo- sort of a  moment and I realized my emotional quotient is quite high when I read Actor Sivakumar's autobiographies. Around 2008 timeframe when I was a bachelor I used to read quite a lot of books and one of the best decisions I did was picking sir's "Idhu Rajapaatai alla" (autobiography of Actor Sivakumar) I should say this book had a profound impact in my life especially since I read it in my late twenties. The book may not inspire you but rather influence you to be more human since there are so many anecdotes where you will cherish the incidents and appreciate the humbleness. 

 Would the world believe sir is 80 years old? Just look at him and he is absolutely stunning at this age. Sir does not consume caffeine and does yoga pretty regularly. Cine industry is known for late night parties but sir defined discipline though belonging to an industry which exbibits glitz and glamour. He wouldn't allow wine shops to open beyond certain time in T nagar since he had two boys. He had an illustrious career acting around 190 movies as lead as well as supporting roles. He has also ventured into public speaking on topics like Ramayana and Mahabaratha on various forums and has got good appreciation. Sir is a great artist and had drawn numerous portraits of various celebrities and sir is also ambidextrous (one who can use both right and left hand equally well). Sir also acted in some mega blockbuster serials like Chithi and Annamalai. Have I met him and talked to him? No, I am not blessed enough to have met him but once I read his autobiography I started to follow him. Sir has a big influence on how to be a 'Human' in this materialistic world. When he wrote the book around 2007-08 timeframe he could have easily added a chapter on Suriya and Jothika and that would have been good enough for the publication to sell copies like hot cakes rather there was absolutely nothing written about his star kids - Suriya and Karthi. He said even after acting over 100 films his bank balance was pretty nominal which explains his character. Once after our marriage in 2009 I wanted to make a small donation to Agaram foundation run by Suriya and along with Minu we visited the office in T nagar and handed over the check for a very meager amount and when I was back to US I came to know that foundation did not encash my check rather they returned back to Trichy address citing they did want to take anonymous donations.  

  In the book sir talks about his village, death of his brother, shares fond memories about his friends Eswaran, Thangamuthu, Krishnaswamy, mannin mainthan Marappa Gounder, his admiration towards AVM chettiar and Sivaji ganesan; his childwood experience of climbing tree, shares his hardships and agony, his reverence towards Velumani ammal and Chinappa devar; his cinematic experience with his colleagues like Aruldoss, Ravichandran, Srikanth, Gemini ganesan, Director Sridhar, Gentleman Muthuraman, Comedy king Nagesh, Bold and elegant JJ, Bishmar KB, Achi Manorama, Kalaignar, Cho, Kavignar Vaali etc., Once you read the incidents it will definitely have a positive impact since these are narrated on how a 'Human' should behave. Given his current position would you believe that he was considered unlucky child when he was born in Kasigoundanputhur, a village 20 kms away from coimbatore. He was very determined to prove that was wrong. With his dad passing away very early it was his mom who stoically withstood the circumstances and managed to send him to school. He recollects that his mom used to say Diwali,Pongal are all only for rich people but for people like us we will get two pairs of shirts and shorts and even if that is torn we may have to stich and be happy with what we have. Sir recollects his dad's close friend Chinna Thambi Gounder who used to elaborate all the good traits about sivakumar's dad and also recollects how one of his friend named Raman used to watch all his films for 40 years from the income he earned through daily wages. When MGR and Sivagi was at their peak Siva kumar couldn't get meaty roles since both Sivaji and MGR were ruling the roost and when MGR was inclining towards politics and Sivaji started to slow down then came Rajini and Kamal as next set of superstars. Sivakumar couldn't hog the limelight once again but with his talent and hard work he was able to sustain his position in the industry. 

 KB once said if Sivaji Ganesan is role model in acting then actor Sivakumar is role model for how an actor should behave. Not even a single gossip about him just reiterates the fact he is very disciplined. It is to be noted that Idhu Raja paatai alla was included in the 91-92 curriculum of Loyola college. Though I do not follow many of his good habits but still sir has been a great influence in my life. 

Next Blog: Perils of buying Medicines 

Does Luck matter ?

  Discussions on Luck is one of those areas which is subjective in nature and it differs from person to person. I would like to go over some examples I have observed and give my perspective on Luck. Luck knowingly or unknowingly would have played a role in one's life which we may not have realized. Sometimes outcome of a cricket match is decided by Toss and we call the captain lucky to have got his toss right. When you are about to step inside an examination hall or attend a Job interview many would wish you 'Best of luck' and few 'All the very best'. Google defines 'Luck' as success that happens by chance. Now let us look into few examples

9/11 lucky fellas: 9/11 is one day no one can easily forget what happened in New York, one of those deadliest terrorist attacks which took away close to 3000 lives. There are few lucky guys who escaped and one of them was called George Keith who drove his brand new BMV on Sept 10,2001 and got it repaired. He got an appointment next day Sept 11,2001 at 7am with hopes of returning to work at 8am but the mechanics refused to work till 8 am and it took them just three minutes to fix the car and by the time the car was fixed and George was rushing back to work plane already crashed WTC, the place where he was heading for work. Kim John-Burns was another person who was three months pregnant and instead of having breakfast with her colleagues at Company's canteen @ 72nd floor she was lazy and decided to have quick breakfast at sixth floor canteen. She said this decision saved her life. In both the cases had the mechanics come earlier or Kim decided to have breakfast at 72nd floor it would have ended both their lives. 

Home price and Luck factor: There is a system in place to fix a price of a house in US and factors such as Schools, proximity to malls, highways, airports, train stations, crime ratio, foreclosures, neighborhood sales determine to fix a price of a house. House is sent for appraisal and appraiser comes up with a value of the house. Assume one particular house comes for sale and the house is pretty red hot in the market since it has way too many advantages. Unfortunately the couple who own the house are planning to end their relation and heading towards divorce, they want to quickly close the deal and willing to settle for lot lesser. Their aim is to part ways sooner by expediting the settlement process. Guy who buys the house gets a good deal but the sad part are the neighbors who are planning to sell their houses. Couple's personal matters which has got nothing to do with the market trend pretty much skews the price and brings down the value of neighborhood homes by some extent. 

MK Stalin and Luck factor: MK Stalin has been in public life for 40-45 years and had to wait a very long time before he became chief minister of the state. He had every thing to his advantage - son of one of India's senior politician, political heir of Karunanidhi, MLA multiple times, Mayor of chennai, Opposition party leader, Minister of Rural development etc., Now state is witnessing one of the best governance in its history and though it is way to early to comment on the government but the news from all round the state is he is doing a wonderful job as CM of the state. Until Karunanidhi was alive he was always 'Thunai Mudhalamaichar' and he carried that tag for a long time and he was insulted many times from many different people and people always felt Stalin will never be the CM of the state. When it comes to qualification I don't believe there is any better person than Stalin since he has come from very basic levels and slowly climbed up the ladder. He was also president of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and as a Mayor he was instrumental in significant growth of Chennai city. Having everything in his kitty still he had to wait till his chance finally came up in 2021 (he was 68 when he took over as CM). People like EPS took the coveted post from nowhere but luck never favored Stalin. 

Luck and Cinema: Since my last blog was on Apples vs Oranges, I want to make sure I pick examples from similar background. Sivakarthikeyan and Actor Prasanna both had humble background and both hail from Trichy and one made it big in Kollywood whereas other is not able to make a mark. If you take Sivakarthikeyan, Vijay TV was his trump card and he capitalized on Family audience particularly women and kids and translated into Box office successes by picking simple and commercial scripts suiting his image. Most of Sivakarthikeyan's movies would be average but they tasted success. Actor Prasanna is pretty good looking and his movies like Kasturi maan and Kanda naal mudhal are decent ones and his acting was good too. Unfortunately he didn't have anyone to groom and with lack of glossy factors like Anirudh's music he couldn't make it big and move on to next level. Actor Rahman is absolutely dashing and acts well but he is better known as AR Rahman's co-brother; If Ilayaraja has endorsed someone then I don't think anything can get better than that but still Karthik Raja couldn't make it big on Kollywood. I love his music in Ullasam, Dum Dum Dum, Ullam Kollai Poguthae etc., I feel Actor Prasanna, Rahman, Music director Karthik Raja all were unlucky. What would you call Mike Mohan ? There was times where many of his movies were superhits and thanks to Raja sir music and SPB voice which fitted him very well and he himself said in an interview that he was at the right place at the right time. 

As you can see Luck plays a role in one's life. It would not be wise to say that one has to rely on luck to grow further but all it takes is some luck to push you attain greater heights. If India has crappy reservation system which favors some castes on education/jobs then US has crappy Immigration system which overlooks deserving candidates thereby favoring individuals based on nationality. But if you are at the right place at the right time then even these so called crappy systems can do a huge favor. 

Next Blog: Influencer No.4