Divorce !!

   ‘Divorce’ is one term which used to be an alien word in those days is become a very common term in modern world. Even conservative community like mine is no exception. I wanted to pen my thoughts on this topic especially after seeing Soundarya Rajinikanth marriage recently.  Misunderstanding, Difference of opinion are not something new but it existed in the past too; Only thing is people used to have a mindset of letting go things easily in olden days or at least one of them tend to take things easy. In modern day number one question is who is that person who tend to take it easy? Husband or wife ? Problem starts there…..”Who” comes before everything. Also the society we live in has something to do with Divorce – the movies that we watch, the serials we see, celebrity we love has an indirect impact in how we see relationship.

    Now let me shift focus to Soundarya Rajinikanth’s recent marriage. Whole of Tamil Nadu was going gaga over her marriage, electronic and print media had wonderful time making headlines, so many people congratulated her on her bold move to come out of the shell and express her happiness over second marriage, she gave Interview which was well received, etc., Well as a human being I wish her happy married life and definitely congratulate her on her move to shed inhibition and come out bold. Now my only question is was there a single soul who thought about Ashwin Ramkumar who was her former husband? Again I have no clue why did they seperate and that is not the scope of my blog too. But let us not forget Ashwin Ramkumar is the biological dad of Ved. I wish both Ashwin and Soundarya happiness on their second innings but what Soundarya cannot hide is she is daughter of India’s superstar. If Rajinikanth endorses a brand the company may go public, anything and everything Rajinikanth does becomes news. She was fine to move on with her life with second marriage but she trying to make a statement in public is what I think is wrong as I believe she may mislead some people with humble background. How many people we know who had second marriage and they kept things very simple by having a low key ceremony. The love and affection from media is all overrated and one has to come to a consensus that true love and affection doesn’t need any media attention. Ashwin also got married but where was all the media ? I feel sorry for Ashwin since it must be emotionally tough to be away from his son. So setting everything aside I wish Ashwin as well as Soundarya-Vishagan a very happy married life. Let Ved get all the love he deserves …

 Now coming to general public, top two reasons I hear reasons for divorce:

(a)    Girl too independent: People say girls earn these days and they want independent life and cannot adjust with inlaws. My opinion is this differs case to case ….People evolve through time. Comparing everything to those days may no longer work …Look at Nirmala Seetharaman, if her hubby thought that way we wouldn’t have got a lady Finance Minister; Modern day girls are ultra smart as they can multi task, they tend to have MK handbag as well know how to make Milagu Kolambu. It is true that with knowledge and freedom comes Stubbornness and attitude but if that can be handled internally within husband and wife with no intervention from both parents then that should be a decent ride with little bumps.

(b)    Boy is impotent: This is one strange thing that people come up with. Just like if you have no time to cook a dish then you come up with either Upma or Maggi ..similarly if they have no reason then they take this one as an excuse. So should boy show Testosterone test results ? This is ridiculous and spreading these sorts of rumors are disheartening.

   Now Finally why am I coming with this blog? Well as being part of society let us respect folks who are undergoing this emotionally draining process called ‘Divorce’. It could be the Bride/Groom, parents of both sides, siblings etc., If we are closer to the party in question we can offer help else we may just have to leave them alone and maybe pray for them to come out of that stage. It is very natural that Boy's side complain girl and Girl's side complain Boy but only God knows the truth. Problem is folks undergoing the process should co-exist in the same society and they are prone to meet people from all walks of life. Sometimes little things like lending a helping hand, taking them out for a movie, giving some moral support without touching the subject can inject so much of life into their life. Remember one thing – doing help alone is not help, wanting to do help can also be help.

V.PAL - Crazy Mohan of Nagarathar Drahma world

    There are people who go behind publicity but have you heard of Publicity go behind people ? That is “V.PAL” for you. Since many of my readers outside Nagarathar community may not know who V.Pal is I am going to give a brief summary about him. V.Pal (Venkatachalam Palaniappan) is residing in Toronto, Canada and is a very prominent figure amongst Tamil community in Toronto area. He has got natural talent when it comes to Directing Tamil Skits/ writing Poems/ Kavidhais etc., Nagarathar Retreat is something that happens once in two years during Independence day weekend and nagarathars all over US and Canada try to attend the gathering. V.Pal’s skit is much sought after and there is always sky level expectation like a Thalaivar movie and still he manages to deliver blockbusters skits every two years. For this reason he is super popular amongst Nagarathar community in USA and Canada. If style and Thalaivar go hand in hand then popularity and V.Pal go hand in hand.

    Now let us know about V.Pal bit closer. He started his career in India in Banking sector and when he was Regional Head for a leading private bank opportunity knocked his door and he migrated to Canada in early 2000’s. He is currently working as a Marketing Manager in Toronto area and those who have seen him would you believe he is into his later 50’s ? Both his daughters are married and he also has two grand children. If you look at his Whatsapp profile picture it may look like a freshly passed out M.S candidate who wants to pose with sea as the background purely to impress Girls ? No kidding …How does he look youthful ? Well he does Yoga, Meditation and he also uses ‘Powder’ quite a bit. Power naps are also one of the secret for his Youthfulness. Nagarathar community is quite small community and as far as my knowledge goes there are roughly around 40000 families throughout the globe. There are many prominent personalities in many different fields but if you take ‘Live Drahma’ (not Cinema) I am not sure whether there are people who are equipped with more talent than V.Pal; V.Pal has got some raw natural talent and since my wife has got more stampings (Canada Visa) than how much Senthil got from Goundamani I was lucky to be part of many such gatherings and enjoy his company whenever I visit Minu in Canada. Life and Stress looks like are directly proportional and apart from enjoying Raja sir music as my companion one other thing which I love doing is to watch his skits in bits and pieces in Youtube to bring that curve on my face. So according to me he is Crazy Mohan of Nagarathar community.

     So when did V.Pal start doing skits ? It all started in Detroit Retreat in 2007 and no looking back since then. Also during events like Tamil New Year, Mother’s day, Pattimandram, Father’s day, Diwali, Pillayar Nombu his presence is felt and he has done some impromptu performances and brought the house down which just reiterates the fact this man has been blessed with natural talent. His skits are played at various locations – Centenary celebrations at Coimbatore Nagarathar Sangam, Reception in Chennai etc., Just like how Sun TV was a pioneer in privatizing television channels in Tamil Nadu, V.Pal’s skits were pioneer on so many Nagarathar drahmas that took place all over the globe. People took his template – characters, dialogues, Context and made minor changes only to become a hero in their own group.

 Now million dollar question ..What makes his skit work big time amongst the audience? Here are my views

[1] Break the Stereotype: On a circular playground if everyone walks clockwise it is very natural that you are bound to be back of one another and this could hamper your pace. How about you walk anti-clockwise ? This is what V.Pal does as he gets the basics right. When every drahma group think about Appatha, Aiya characters which has become very redundant these days he comes up with a plot which is still nagarathar oriented but injects freshness into the plot. Also very natural for drahma groups to have recorded voice in background and have characters just come and act but V.Pal is one person who insists on Live drahma ..In fact one of the Retreats he declined to stage his drahma since there were technical difficulties in getting the mics for everyone, organizers had to re-schedule his skit to a different day

[2] Make Lady Character strong: This is a simple Thumb rule ..give Lady character a meaty role and your skit is bound to reach masses. “Appatha” character in ‘Ponnu Pudichiruku”; Sindhu Senthilnathan, Vasantha Valliappan,  Dr.Muthulakshmi characters in “Enga Appachi Sandhiki.... Ellarum Vaanga”; Valli Adaikappan character in “Ikkaraiku Akkarai pachai” are all so very well written.  

[3] Camaraderie in Group: V.Pal drahma makes sure real and reel spouses are shuffled …bachelors are turned senior achis …People not getting bothered about their ‘Image’ in Stage are some of the features. Long story short people get into skin of the character ..

[4] V.Pal and Spontaneity: If you carefully observe his plays many magic moments are created then and there …when people laugh loud at auditorium V.Pal goes crazy and he comes up with many dialogues which were not there originally in the script ..this becomes challenge for other characters in the frame as they are unaware of how to react to his counter dialogues but people somehow manage. One classic example is Dining scene in “Enga Appachi Sandhiki.... Ellarum Vaanga”

[5] Slice of Life: V.Pal also does pull real life examples and once audience connect and relate to the dialogues smile becomes laugh. Example: The dialogue when he says “Vadai Vellai Paniyaram ellam eppo pichu pichu podraanga” garnered so much laughter since audience related to what happened on that day and also when he says “Eppo evunga ellam nenaichadhu maariya ponnu kedachudhu ..kedaicha tha vechu evlo santhoshama illa” it brought whole house down and in fact skit was almost paused for few seconds for people to complete the laugh.

    Now coming to Challenges …well V.pal’s skit gets so much attention and this could even bring down the potential due to the pressure. V.Pal puts in so much of effort since he feels with no close up shots, and technological restrictions the only way he can connect with audience is dialogues and how people deliver on stage. He religiously practices and is always a tough task to pull people together for practice sessions. Moreover he has to write characters based on who is participating in Retreat. The way he comes up with Characterizations for Mr.Balan, Annamalai annan, Mr.Subi are incredible and just shows he has good creative mind. Also none of his drahma members have prior experience acting in drahma and it is wonderful to see him give dialogues for every single individual attending Retreat from Canada.

   Stage is set for his drahma in July 2019 which promises to be Grand mother of all Retreats. Am looking forward for his drahma …..In fact whether a young mom who wants to feed her child or 60 + who want to take Crestor/Metformin everyone would finish off their task before Canada play. If at all there is one empty chair during his play I can guarantee there is some mechanical issues with the chair. I just wish if a Psychologist can be able measure the happiness in an environment through some instrument since I bet a place where V.Pal skit is running is a place where Happiness index would be saturating.

For all friends who haven’t seen his plays, here are the URLs of his Blockbuster Skits (Knowing Nagarathar community to some extent will help you relate more to the dialogues )

Detroit Retreat : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_8qTrHUFgU&feature=youtu.be

New Jersey Retreat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm2t0UXyq7M&t=295s

California Retreat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWFye85N_KU

Boston Retreat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Rfk2Petpc&t=871s

This space reserved for D.C Retreat …….

    

Trichy Ayyappan Temple

   For people who belong to Trichy this blog may not provide any new information but for people who have not been to Ayyappan Temple in Trichy this blog may be informative. This temple is pride of Trichy and is a great testimony for the city. “Silence” and “Cleanliness” are two things that make this temple an unique experience for devotees. There is always bunch of volunteers roaming around in the temple to make sure silence is maintained throughout the premise, if a toddler runs around suddenly you will see a volunteer rushing towards you asking to take care of the kid. Cleanliness is something which is very hard to enforce in India with the sort of population we have but people can come here and do a case study on how to keep the premise clean. This temple hosts so many plants and it is wonderful to see so much of greenery in a Temple. Now let me walk you through the temple…As soon as you enter there are volunteers who take care of slippers; Outside India it is very natural to have people volunteer in Temple in different areas like Kitchen, Religious activity, Logistics etc., but in India norm is people sponsor money and there are always laborers to take care of different departments. But this is one temple that breaks the conventional wisdom and have common people volunteer in different departments. Temple does not have Undiyal, no money for priests, Archanai is done in the name of the lord, there is absolutely no commercial activity in the premise. On behalf of your company even if you want to make a huge sponsor they will not entertain to advertise your business whatsoever. Dress code is something they strictly follow and they will stop you right there if they find your dress inappropriate. People make fun of Indian standard time but temple’s punctuality is something similar to military standards.

Here are some of the features of the temple:

(1)    Temple donates Buttermilk for common citizens from March 1 to May 31st of every year since that is peak summer

(2)    Balar School: Temple enrolls young kids and teaches so many religious stuff, wonderful sight to see kids in white uniform on Sundays

(3)    Devaram-Thiruvasagam classes happen on Saturdays

(4)    Every 2^nd and 4^th Sunday Blood camps happen and this has won so many accreditation in the state

(5)    Educational assistance to those who secured good marks but economically backward

(6)    There are so many Herbal plants in the temple premise – 356 herbal plants, plants for all 27 nakshatras, 368 trees etc., A walk around the temple looking into all these plants can be refreshing

(7)    There are Yoga classes, Hindi classes, Religious yatras, Eye/Organ Donation awareness camps etc., which happen at regular intervals

 One of the thing which I really love about the Temple is the writings all over. They have so many granite stones and you will come across beautiful phrases which may enlighten you. For regular visitors ‘Moral story’ written on the wall every week next to book stall is something you will look forward to. There is one spot in the temple where the famous song from Mannan “amma vendrazhaikkadha uyirillaye” is written on the wall and you could also play it. So many people come and pay respects to their moms by doing a sashtang namaskaram in front of the lyrics. There is also one spot in the temple near the big dyana mandapam a place where they have instilled 1574 holy stones from many different temples. Temple management also has one post box just back of Ayyappan sannidhi where one can write a letter requesting lord to help. Every month during Lord Ayyappa’s nakshatram day (Uthiram) they present the letters under the feet of lord Ayyappa and priest does archanai for “Genuine” requests to be fulfilled. Then they discard the letters using paper shredding machine.

   Temple attracts 20000, 30000 or even more devotees on English new year, Tamil new year etc., Anyone organization who wants to know how to deal with massive crowd but at the same time ensure the purpose of each one’s visit is duly met then they got to visit this temple on those days. On Tamil new year day I went around 8.30 – 9 am and they said we already crossed more than 8000. There is so much of planning which is fully backed by wonderful execution by volunteers. There are no major barricades, savukku kambu or big sticks involved in crowd management but just a plain simple white thread is what it takes. Temple is just at the heart of the city but the way crowd is handled is something that is absolutely amazing. If you have not visited the temple I would highly recommend you to visit Ayyappan Temple, Trichy and get lord’s blessings. Give yourself enough time to be in the temple for you to experience the divinity and make sure you check Temple timings and plan your trip accordingly.

Election 2019

  Stage is all set for counting which will begin in few hours. Election 2019 witnessed highest voter turnout all over the country. I was that typical guy who used to say “Politics is all crap…full of corrupt people” but you know what I developed interest towards Politics by reading many newspaper articles. One thing which I always love during my childwood was sipping Bournvita and reading ‘The Hindu’ daily by turning straight back to sports column, Friday review, Metro plus etc., Now I do the same until my six months old stare at me “Appa ..time to change diapers” Only thing that changed was I started reading more of Political articles. I was curious to know myself how did I develop interest into Politics but then realized I witnessed Politics among 100 + families in close quarters recently and that could have played a role since I was able to observe and draw conclusions on so many aspects. So basically the more you try to decode and analyze the moves it would fascinate you. When nothing at stake and still so much drahma is involved imagine what all goes into the making of MLA seat, MP seat, Chief minister post, Prime minister post. Moreover right from the toothpaste we use, car we drive, Tax we pay, House we live, Food we eat anything and everything boils down to Governance which is turn depends on the Government. If you are running Business, many factors like Government schemes, policies, Taxes play a role in how well we can run the show. I read the Election Manifesto and tried to be a responsible citizen by casting my vote. Guess what I even helped EC officials on how to find voter ID through an app for few citizens.

    Now coming to TamilNadu Politics – I would say state is literally in ICU …Political instability has been a big problem. Many Industries have preferred neighboring states due to lack of ease in doing Business in Tamil Nadu. I am afraid Tamil Nadu is no longer Detroit of Asia as many industries are moving away and existing industries are not setting up second phase. ‘Porattam’ has been the key thing and we see protests for anything and everything. I have no clue who was ‘H.Raja’, ‘Tamilisai Soundarrajan’, ‘Selloor Raja’ few years ago but these are household names now due to all the negative publicity they gained through their speeches/actions. JJ’s death, Collision between EPS-OPS camps, RK nagar chaos, Sterlite police firing, Salem-Chennai highway, Vijayabaskar scam etc., just to name a few were making headlines. State also witnessed some heroes who were born – RJ Balaji become a sensation, Hip Hop Aadhi became overnight hero which I realized only when I saw crowd for his latest movie, Karu Palaniappan became karuthu Kandasamy for his bold speeches. I don’t have any doubt that it would be cakewalk for DMK in Tamil Nadu since the state government themselves made life easier for DMK folks. Mr.Thirunavakarasu in Trichy area representing Congress will literally win by huge margin and my home which is sandwiched between K.N Nehru office and his home will witness wallas of crackers tomorrow.

    Now coming to Mr.Rajini-Kamal entry into politics. I would rather say it is very late ..I know age is just a number but Politics is a different ball game and am afraid both of them are not even mentally ready to take plunge into Politics. If Kamal gets one brownie for contesting then I would take half a brownie away since he himself is not contesting. It just shows he wants to test waters before getting his hands wet in 2021. He talks as if he is coming straight from PHD classroom but just being intellectual alone will not make you as a Politician. Million dollar question is where is Mr.Kamal getting money for his campaigns? Mr.Rajini is making fun of himself ….(I love Thalaivar but in Politics he will be Mr.Rajini); He is at all time high doing Movies and am not sure why does he want to enter Politics. He is worst as far as addressing media and has not even started a political party. Does he believe being a mass hero will fetch him votes ? What happened to Mr.Chiranjeevi? I would rather have Rajini do more and more films. Many make fun about Mr.Vijayakanth but hats off to him to venture into politics when two Dravidian stalwarts were present – J.Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi. In fact one person whom I personally feel has good political acumen is Mr.TTV Dinakaran – he is one person who gives interview in such a convincing manner and I like his attitude in how he carries himself. He is someone whom I believe will make an impact in TN Politics in future.

   But tomorrow is not about State election. By end of tomorrow we will get to know who will be Prime Minister for one of the biggest democratic countries in the world. Biggest drawback for Congress is who will be their Prime minster Candidate…BJP has polarized saffron quite a bit and has created problems for Communal Harmony. Demonetisation and GST has been the biggest talking points during campaigns and N.E.E.T has become a raging topic in Tamil Nadu. There is a clear divide between North and South not just in terms of food but also in terms of picking Congress or BJP. EC has also been receiving quite a lot of flak for its conduct over Elections. I can just think of one man ..T.N Seshan, he was one person who brought in so much of discipline into Electoral proceedings those days. In Summary BJP has an edge but interesting thing whoever wins it may not be a convincing win.

M.A.M Palaniappan Aiya - Celebration of life !!

   Nagarathar community is aware of M.A.M Palaniappan Aiya of Rayavaram – 105 years old chettiar who resides in Rayavaram. In 2014, though I was at Bay area  when Aiya visited California and I missed seeing Aiya since I had booked tickets for whale watching. I felt guilty of missing a golden opportunity and from that point  was looking forward to meet him and my luck finally came in 2018 when I personally made efforts to meet him in his place at Rayavaram. Aiya was aware that guests are bound to come and seek blessings from him. I went along with my mom, wife and kids. We introduced ourselves and nagarathar community is like solving sudoku puzzle of level one. Third minute into the conversation we will realize there is whole lot of mutual friends between two families.

    We took blessings from Aiya and spent few minutes chatting with him. Aiya gets up very early in the morning and reads Devaram and other religious books. He watches Cricket and an ardent fan of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Aiya also does Stock Trading every single day and has the habit of writing accounts. Aiya maintains a balanced diet and has the habit of walking. These facets of his life are familiar to many nagarathars. I would like to illustrate few more …We were served Biscuits and Aiya was particular my maid also has some. Not just that when we all took our seats Aiya noticed my maid standing and insisted her to sit. Now that is humanity. Humanity has to be part of your system ..it is basically your behavior through your instincts. I asked Aiya one question “What should one do to be Happy?” Aiya replied ...”Don’t worry about anything…What is bound to happen will happen…” . One other things which is so impressive about Aiya is his positivity towards life. It is very common to see people of his age or even closer to his age say “I would like to leave the world without disturbing anyone” ….Though we can comprehend the sentence but still hearing this sentence from people kind of disheartens us and disturbs us emotionally. Unfortunately we live in a world where Tit for Tat is the order of the day – You attend my event and I will attend yours, You make a dish for my pot luck and I will make a dish for your pot luck, You ‘Like’ my photo and I will ‘Like’ your pic …etc., But here is a man who never misses any Invites and always makes sure he blesses everyone. It is very easy for him to turn down the invite citing his age instead have the bride and groom come to his place but at this age he makes sure he physically attends the marriage. One such marriage he attended in Rayavaram today and was lucky enough to get blessings from Aiya second time. He entered and sat on the chair and suddenly army of people start lining up to get blessings from Aiya.

    Life on its course throws lots of surprises every now and then but eventually life comes only once. I grumble so much about Indian summer but Aiya lives at Native which is burning hot …..Aiya does what he likes and likes what he does….Aiya’s humanity is what makes him a great person. Apart from indulging in quite a lot of philanthropic activities and donating so much for charity, Aiya treats and respects every single person as a human being. Aiya is a celebration of life. In a world where Psychiatrists and Priests (except Mr.Kamal Haasan everyone is turning to be religious these days) are ruling the roost here is a man who can rub positivity over you and make you understand love and empathy towards fellow human beings is the way to lead life. Palaniappan Aiya – We all Love you !!

Petta - Hits & Misses !!

    When Rajini movie is just released your emotions seems to be brimming especially when you are a Thalaivar fan so want to give myself some time before I pen this blog. I just want to go over hits and misses of Petta – Thalaivar’s latest offering which turned out to be a huge blockbuster. First thing first – Let us not forget Thalaivar is almost 70 and many in his age are learning to tie diapers for their grand kids but here is a man who is literally ruling the box office. Many actors in 70’s have completely retired or doing character roles per their age. So delivering a movie at the age of 70, playing a mass hero and still able to compete with younger stars alone deserves huge round of applause. During January I attended series of marriages and at one point all I was looking for was a simple curd rice made the traditional way. Similarly Rajini fans have seen Thalaivar in different avatars like Kockadaiyaan, Kuselan, Enthiran, 2.0 but there was this plain simple “Mass Masala Rajini Film” that was missing and Karthik Subburaj being an ardent fan all he did was just delivered a pucca Rajini film. Karthik basically made sure that the movie is a crowd pleaser – Thalaivar’s uttering of “naan veezhven endru ninaithayo” already made throats go dry in the beginning, “Sirappana tharamaana sambavangala inime dhan paaka pora” was kick ass dialogue. Thalaivar and VJ Sethupathy opening the doors simultaneously was absolutely MASS especially with Ani’s BGM…Similarly every now and then there was mass elements throughout the film and “Kola mass” dialogue in the movie was aptly written. I loved the romance portion with Simran – though it was brief but it was sensible. 

   Now coming to Marketing of the movie …Sun Pictures and Kalanidhi Maran can teach you Marketing than what Stanford can teach you sitting in a classroom. Many may wonder after Sarkar and Petta why is Sun Pictures producing/distributing Kanchana 3 ..well there are reasons. First by agreeing to distribute movie like Kanchana 3 they give big boost to the movie which then prompts the makers to give a nice product and then it increases the business value of the movie. Now they also negotiate with the Theatre owners in such a way that if you agree to screen Kanchana 3 then we will give you rights to screen Sarkar and Petta ..something like a 2+1 deal ….now after all this numbers come into equation and they show losses on the small movie and take home big profits earned from Sarkar and Petta. Kalanidhi Maran is an absolute smart person and he is a pioneer in whichever field he ventures into. Can you name a single person after incurring losses owning an aircraft company but still able to overcome and shine in other endeavors?

      Now coming into the minuses of the movie ….I thought the biggest drawback was the way characters was established and how scenes were hurried. As a writer it takes few scenes for audience to sketch a character and by taking through few scenes slowly but surely audience get connected to the character and the overall story revolving around the characters. Take Ramya Krishnan for example in Padayapa, Director was able to show her as arrogant woman by series of events through the story. The way the flashback episode handled in Petta and the whole incident of shootings was very loosely written and the main culprit was Karthik was too quick in jumping into this scene where I personally felt he should have taken some more time in allowing the audience to go back to the past. Gun shooting was like “Pottu vedi” and it did not create any awe. Rajini’s biggest plus as a mass hero have been kids and lady audience enjoying his movies especially the humor portion. Now there was far little humor but where is the emotional quotient which is another main ingredient in a mass masala movie ? Mass movies like Annamalai or Padayappa had a good emotional quotient. Another big drawback was gun shots ..I thought it was way too much gun shots in the movie and unfortunately gun shots mean very little to the overall proceedings but it is used just to give an image that it has got some heavy action sequences. My opinion was Vijay Sethupathi’s role could have been much longer and he could have donned the main antagonist. Karthik’s take on villain being in North and being medically unfit did very little to prove his body language as a baddie. After seeing Trisha’s role I was very disappointed especially after her performance in 96. I can understand that she wants to pair opposite Thalaivar to make her career full but as an actress she had every right to demand one or two scoring scenes to director. A writer can create any situation to make actors perform and there should have been 1 or 2 scenes to highlight her acting prowess.

    Overall Petta was good ..I enjoyed the movie. Within span of 6-7 months Thalaivar had 3 releases and I believe Thalaivar realizes the only ay he can make fans happy is by making movies. I am sorry to say but his political career may either not take off or he may fail miserably in Politics. I took my son for 2.0 and he enjoyed the movie and I just hope Thalaivar makes more and more movies and continue entertaining us through generations.

Marriage between Egg & Parotta !!

   I just love trying new restaurants and being a foodie my taste buds is always on a lookout for yummy dishes …One thing which I missed very badly was ‘Mutta Parotta’ or in other words Kothu parotta made the traditional way. This is one signature dish which is very famous in all night kadais in Tamil Nadu …..The same dish can be made in many different ways but the local flavor in which it is made is simply awesome and am going to take you guys over this dish the way it is prepared. There is one such shop near my place and I believe this guy has been in business even before India got its independence and I bet you he has wealth to buy 50% of POES Gardens, Chennai. All being said he is still considered to be ‘night kadai’ owner. Whenever I visit the shop he greets me ‘enna pa romba naala kaanom’ and orders his staff to lookout for a seat for me; My feeling at that time would be as if name was adjudged for Oscar nomination only to realize later he pretty much does the same ritual to every person visiting the shop. Then without any doubt I order ‘Mutta Parotta’ every damn time I visit this place.

   Let me go over the marriage that happens between Egg and Parotta. Consider ‘Egg’ as bride and ‘Parotta’ as groom …for any marriage venue is the key …in all Night kadai the big round black aduppu is pretty much lit by wood and once it is lit around 6pm then goes to bed only after midnight. Basically it is hot all the time due to the non stop dishes made on it. This plays a role since all fancy restaurants they use LPG and it is switched on only based on need. So venue is ‘Adapu’ where we first call both the parents – onions and tomatoes …Chef is affectionately called as ‘Master’ and he sautés onions and tomatoes along with chilli powder, garam masala powders etc., Tomatoes are not cut by the way ..they are literally squeezed like how a middle class does to the colgate paste in its ending stages. To add more spice to the proceedings he adds green chilies which can be the Nathanaars ….He sautés them well and in every marriage pangalis and relatives play a significant role and he adds fresh curry leaves and coriander leaves. Unlike chefs who may have curry leaves refrigerated these guys just take absolute fresh curry leaves. Now the bride comes in ….Master takes egg in one hand and gently taps couple of times only to see the egg joining the party ….now comes groom ..parotta is torn apart just like how every grooms are after marriage and then added to the gang …….Festivities happen and this is where gravy is poured into the ingredients. Now it is Master all the way …he takes two tumblers upside down and he goes with the rhythm which can even make drums Shiva mani proud of the sound produced. Normally master makes multiple quantities and he then segregates into different plates. Finally mutta parotta is served on plantain leaf red hot. Trust me marriage between egg and parotta made the traditional way always taste better and creates lasting impression.

     I see many Indian restaurants abroad and over here have a category called ‘Street food’ section where they have this dish. I think for people who do not want to step into Night kadai then they can enjoy ‘Kothu Parotta’ from restaurants but for people who do not mind visiting occasionally to such shops I highly recommend they should try this signature dish from Tamil Nadu.

Nakshatra Temples

Every single human being born in this world will belong to any one of the twelve rasis which in further categorized as 27 Nakshatras. So based on the time and place one is born rasi and Nakshatra is calculated. So let me go over few things which are beyond our control

•  You stepping over an ant ..I have no clue whether stepping over an ant accidentally account     towards bad Karma but know the fact by stepping over an ant we destroy a member in its           family
•   Our Grandfather, great grandfather wrong acts in the past which may come back to us accounting for bad karma
•   Your own wrongdoings in the past jenmams
•   Unfortunately you are being a curse by a section of people which you are not aware of

My main intention is to bring there are lots of things which are completely beyond our control. I feel very sorry for Singer Chitra and Comedian Vivek on what happened in their personal life. Fortunately or unfortunately the bitter truth is we have to face the harsh reality and mature person will only seek strength to face the consequences due to bad karma inherited from past jenmams. There is whole lot of worship practices which one can follow to get blessings from lord and lessen the ill effects of purna jenma bad karmas and one such practice and an essential one is visiting Nakshatra temples based on your Jenma Nakashatra. Now if someone asks just by visiting these temples if one can overcome all bad karma, answer is ‘No’ but with faithful prayers one can get the confidence to face the hardships thrown at you. If you can plan your visit on birth star day that is great but if you cannot at least try to visit on a normal day and get blessings.

     

Here is the list of various temples pertaining to each Nakshatra: 

Now just to let you know some of these are small temples and they could be on outskirts of a city. There is good reason priest manages more than one temple in that area and just to avoid disappointment try to contact the temple before you go. Also on birth star days you could see mad rush and priest could very well make use of the opportunity by demanding you to do certain rituals. I leave up to you to decide what you want to follow. If you happen to be living abroad it is very difficult to plan your trip on your birth star day hence just try to visit whenever your schedule permits. Also sometimes the birth star lapses two days and in those cases you may want to check the calendar. 

For further information on temple history and contact information for each temple visit following URL:

https://temple.dinamalar.com/en/StarTemple_list_en.php

Vijay Sethupathi - My Hero !!

   With or without my conscience I am becoming a huge fan of Vijay Sethupathy. I just feel he is an effortless actor or to put it in simple words a very natural actor. If you take Tamil cinema in the last 7-8 years it has seen some cult classics like Pizza (whole array of ghost films started to release post Pizza), Sudhu Kavvum, Jigarthada, Vikram Vedha, 96 etc., and no prizes for guessing what is the common factor in all these movies. If we take a close look at his films you can see that he acts in every category of films. He is one hero who introduced whole new bunch of youngsters into mainstream tamil cinema (Karthik subburaj, Nalan Kumaraswamy, Balaji Tharaneetharan) just to name a few. Also he doesn’t follow a template that one should act in so many number of films in a calendar year as he believes content will take care. One other major advantage with Vijay sethupathi is he does not have ego in appearing for cameos in films like Jigarthanda, Kathai Thiraikathai Vasanam Iyakkam, Traffic Ramaswamy, Imaika Nodigal etc.,  

   Now let me do a deep dive into some of his films.  Though he has acted in few movies before Pizza but this was the movie that put him in the limelight due to the freshness in the script. Film was just over 2 hours and audience liked the slick presentation. NKPK was absolute cracker and every tamil speaking people throughout the globe enjoyed this movie since it gave a complete new flavor to comedy genre. If anyone would have narrated Soodhu Kavvum script to any hero they would have laughed saying it was not even fit for short film but VJ trusted the script and had confidence in Nalan which became one of the most widely celebrated movie in those times. Pannaiyarum Padminiyum is one movie which I liked very much and knew few of my friends who liked the movie very much. The penchant towards car was poetically shown in celluloid. Naanum Rowdy thaan  and Kadhalum Kadandhu pogum were wonderful movies once again due to the fresh content. Sethupathi was a very good cop movie with brilliant performance from VJS. Dharma Durai and Andavan Katalai are great choices for an actor to be associated and no wonder VJS was approached for these movies. Vikram Vedha was an absolute cracker of an movie and VJS performance was literally awesome. Though his role is limited in movies like Imaika Nodinal and Chekka Chivandha Vaanam VJS made his presence felt. Now coming to ‘96’ ..where do I start ….I just loved the movie so much that I can write series of blogs on the movie. ‘96’ will be one of the best romantic tales Tamil cinema has ever seen. The interval scene where VJS meet Trisha after 2 decades, the scene where VJS hesitatingly asks Trisha to come home before her flight are all so well etched in my memory where I don’t think I can do a shift+delete from my brain.

    Every actor wanted to be part of good movies and they are in search of good scripts but unfortunately they follow a template. Take for example Vikram who is a brilliant actor but still he acts in movies like ‘Saamy’, ‘Sketch’, ‘Kanthasamy’ which are pure masala potboilers; Even Suriya after giving great performances goes back to Hari for Singam franchise, actor Sivakarthikeyan goes with Anirudh or Imman for Music, Ponram or Durai Senthilkumar for direction; But VJS chooses every movie based on ‘Fresh content’ and never ever follows a template. Some of his movies bombed in Box office like Rummy, Junga, Orange mittai, Iraivi but that didn’t stop him from experimenting. Some movies like Dharma dhurai may have been simple but it perfectly fits the “feel good” category. I think his intuition is based on content and trust he has with the director. His acting is also very natural like fluid state and nowadays I see so many whistles for him whenever he appears in Trailer/Teaser for an upcoming movie.

     I wish him good luck and I cannot believe I still haven’t watched Seethakaathi. He has some terrific line of upcoming movies. Though I am eager to watch Petta for Thalaivar am equally excited to see VJS opposite Thalaivar and I believe for the first time I may also scream for Thalaivar’s rival on screen. If Tamil Cinema has grown in the last 10 years then VJS will be one of the main reasons and if Tamil Cinema has to grow in the future then again he will have to play an important role in endorsing new scripts and talents.

Some Ramblings from Ex-NRI !!

   Since it has been little more than a year since I came to India after living in green pastures for more than dozen odd years I get the title of Ex-NRI; I would like to pen small incidents in a funny way which I encountered in the past year. Just see whether you can relate to these incidents.

[1] Vegetable Market: Puthur Market is one place in Trichy which poises a huge challenge for your respiratory system and visiting on Sunday morning is an experience by itself. One fine Sunday morning I visited the market and after buying the vegetables I was looking to purchase some fruits. I have this policy of helping street vendors whenever possible by buying unprocessed food stuff like fruits. This is because though we buy from shops many a times the shops expand to such an extent where they bring the fruit section to the perimeter of the shop and most probably it is meters away from roadside hence I wanted to help the street vendors too. I went to this couple in the street and said how much is one kilogram of pomegranate ? They replied Rs.130 and it is usual to hike 20 or 30 rupees hence I asked how about Rs.100 and the couple denied that is no way possible and we both mutually agreed for Rs.110; I was happy that my negotiation skills could get me few milliliters of petrol. On my way back home I had to stop at Pala muthir Cholai to buy something I couldn’t get in market and asked one of the sales person how much is one kilogram of pomegranate (same kind with I bought) and I was surprised when I came to know it was around Rs.95; So a shop inclusive of its overhead expenses like rent, labor cost, utility cost could sell for 95 this couple sold for 110 and that too after my so called negotiation skills. I spoke to amma about this and amma said that is because I was wearing shorts and chain …My mom is a funny person and I was not sure whether I should laugh at amma’s joke or I should feel proud that she had high regards for my appearance.

[2] Bank ATM: India is the only place where people to escape scorching heat visit a nearby ATM to cool themselves. Since ATM was crowded I was under the impression many are waiting inside so I thought to respect one’s “privacy” I should stand outside. But I was ridiculed when people who came after me rushed inside though they were fully aware of the crowd inside. Then I went inside and when my turn came up I inserted the card and I found a person almost kissing me and I said “Sir please maintain some distance” ..I could sense he became angry at me as if I asked his salary or his wife’s age. Later one day when I got a printout from a Bank I was shocked to realize the bank used one sided paper to take a printout I requested and on the other side I could spot name, aadhar number, account number, some transaction details of a customer. Just like how Vijayakanth says “Manippu” is one word he doesn’t like in Tamil I realized “Privacy” is one word that is not applicable in India.

[3] Door Opening: Be it private or public place it is always courteous to keep the door opened for the guests that follow you to come in or go out and my system just got used to this habit. Little did I know that this will not work over here …One occasion I had to keep the door open and series of auntys and uncles along with kids made use of my offer …worst part was few of them rushed to avail my service and the worst part was not even a single soul said ‘Thank you’.

[4] Road system: This topic is never ending and have countless encounters. Once there was a red signal and as an obedient citizen I stopped my two wheeler and was waiting for the light to be green. It took quite some time and I saw people going past me and they looked back at me as if they spotted Prathap Bothen on road. It was kind of embarrassing and had to move on.

[5] RTO office: Many things could have changed in India but believe me functioning of the RTO office remains the same. People must have seen piles of paper but if people want to see rooms of paper then visit RTO office. Since I had to renew my license I visited RTO office through an agent and was standing in the line. Just like how we see in movies when my turn was about to come the system stopped working and we were all requested to go back and come back next day. Because of the number of mass masala movies I see I thought it was time for me to tap the mass hero inside me. I went to the officer and put forward the constraints we had to face in not getting work done today. The officer who was very firm in his voice became friendly and advised all of us the challenges from their side. Though we had to come the next day to get things done I was happy that I was able to leverage some use seeing the mass masala potboilers.