Walking out of the office the other day I heard a kitten mewling away. Normal occurrence I guess but it suddenly took me back 25 years. We lived in this rambling old house which happened rather than planned. This combined with a large garden meant that the house was always filled with various forms of wildlife. From ants to flies to the occasional crow and of course cats. We just couldn’t keep them away and my grand mom’s excessive fondness of all the cats meant that we had an army of them around all the time. They also established themselves in the various nooks this rambling house provided and the cats yowling away during mating season provided constant fodder to my nightmares, fun.
Got me thinking of course of other sounds I grew accustomed to.
Being from madras of course meant that the day started fairly early for us. The birds chirping away in the morning going at the mangoes was a constant.
For some reason all the houses used to have their radios on full blast, you could hear the synchronous intonation of “vande mataram” and keep track when you walked down the road. This was of course immediately followed by the venkatesa suprabhatham (yup lived in an area that was infested with tambrams). The hymns used to wake up the lord had the added effect of rudely getting me up many a day. Oddly enough in the odd chance that I come upon random strains of the same these days it has the immediate effect of calming me down.
The thud of mangoes falling from the tree.
Even earlier when I was fairly little we used to have a bunch of cows right next door. Never heard too much from them though strangely enough. But the guy who used to work there used to make quite a racket.
Milk cookers….the racket of hundreds of households going about getting their morning cuppa. Followed closely by the pressure cookers going off.
On my way to pick up milk in the morning (my one chore. Rub it in to the family even now) the little tea shops that used to open up really early in the morning, blaring tam music.
Oh the little temple in the street, used to have a festival every year. They made sure that everyone in the vicinity knew about it and more important dint forget it. The music and “devotional songs” used to be on pretty much from before you woke up and went on much after you turned in.
Fairly non standard sounds where I live right now. No wonder the mewling of that kitten took me right back. Am looking forward to encounter the other sounds too.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Memories....Mylapore thatha..
It was my Grandfathers 100th birthday a few days back. He passed away when I was 7 years old. And over the last few weeks I have really been trying to figure out what I remember of him. It’s been tough and also surprising figuring out what I do remember.
Let’s see, I was fairly afraid of the man. My sister used to be thatha’s darling and since I used to mercilessly hound her she would run to him. Actually my patti would tell her to go and stand near thatha and his arm chair cos if I went near range I would be caught by the long arm of the law (in his case a walking stick).
Early morning, somehow I associate early morning with him. I used to wake up fairly early as a kid and so would he. Don’t really remember how long he used to sleep. But yeah clearly remember walking to mani kadai, the vegetable chappie along with him early morning. Also remember walking to the kesava perumal kovil a couple of times. He would of course walk real slow and I would be running all around (the walking stick would make an appearance here).
Remember having very interesting discussions on bowel movement, this was early morning too.
Glucose powder and a weird tasting biscuit. Patti would smuggle these to me.
Steamed apples, he couldn’t digest normal ones.
Roti for dinner, very strange I used to think. Why is he having this weird stuff?
The armchair of course! Solidly built like a tank, could never push it around. One handle used to be broken. So would swing wildly all over the place. It was badly fixed once and the outcropping nail would always mess my arm up.
Remember the day he came back from hospital. The whole family was home waiting for him.
Visiting him in the hospital once with Dad. Think he had had a procedure whereby his navel was taken out.
He used to dote on my sister. I remember that very clearly. Ran like hell once, when something I threw injured her below the eye. I was petrified.
When my perippa used to come visiting, it was double trouble. I would never walk through the living room. Would always sneak in through the back door.
Whole family gathering for his birthday in Ambasamudram. Missed that one, had exams I think. That family photo is knocked around still.
3 pictures, always 3 pictures. The big one in the hall, at his desk looking very young, very dashing I always thought. The small one over the door leading to the dining room, looking slightly older, very dignified. The one in the alcove in the bedroom with patti. Which for some strange reason she used to insist was a painting. She got portrait and painting mixed up was my theory. The turban that he wore was always there in full glory. Never seen him wearing it though.
Small picture with a poem. Above one of the other doors. Was it about him?
Walking stick. 2 of them. One was smaller. I could escape that easier.
And of course patti calling me and amma down from the backyard, early morning, he had passed away.
Din’t really know him that well I guess. Can't say I miss him. But a lot of stories heard from patti always made me think I knew him better than I did. And most of these memories could also be what patti told me.
Glad that I remembered them though.
Let’s see, I was fairly afraid of the man. My sister used to be thatha’s darling and since I used to mercilessly hound her she would run to him. Actually my patti would tell her to go and stand near thatha and his arm chair cos if I went near range I would be caught by the long arm of the law (in his case a walking stick).
Early morning, somehow I associate early morning with him. I used to wake up fairly early as a kid and so would he. Don’t really remember how long he used to sleep. But yeah clearly remember walking to mani kadai, the vegetable chappie along with him early morning. Also remember walking to the kesava perumal kovil a couple of times. He would of course walk real slow and I would be running all around (the walking stick would make an appearance here).
Remember having very interesting discussions on bowel movement, this was early morning too.
Glucose powder and a weird tasting biscuit. Patti would smuggle these to me.
Steamed apples, he couldn’t digest normal ones.
Roti for dinner, very strange I used to think. Why is he having this weird stuff?
The armchair of course! Solidly built like a tank, could never push it around. One handle used to be broken. So would swing wildly all over the place. It was badly fixed once and the outcropping nail would always mess my arm up.
Remember the day he came back from hospital. The whole family was home waiting for him.
Visiting him in the hospital once with Dad. Think he had had a procedure whereby his navel was taken out.
He used to dote on my sister. I remember that very clearly. Ran like hell once, when something I threw injured her below the eye. I was petrified.
When my perippa used to come visiting, it was double trouble. I would never walk through the living room. Would always sneak in through the back door.
Whole family gathering for his birthday in Ambasamudram. Missed that one, had exams I think. That family photo is knocked around still.
3 pictures, always 3 pictures. The big one in the hall, at his desk looking very young, very dashing I always thought. The small one over the door leading to the dining room, looking slightly older, very dignified. The one in the alcove in the bedroom with patti. Which for some strange reason she used to insist was a painting. She got portrait and painting mixed up was my theory. The turban that he wore was always there in full glory. Never seen him wearing it though.
Small picture with a poem. Above one of the other doors. Was it about him?
Walking stick. 2 of them. One was smaller. I could escape that easier.
And of course patti calling me and amma down from the backyard, early morning, he had passed away.
Din’t really know him that well I guess. Can't say I miss him. But a lot of stories heard from patti always made me think I knew him better than I did. And most of these memories could also be what patti told me.
Glad that I remembered them though.
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Sport Movie
Imagine a genre all by itself!
With enough of the sport movie coming out in all languages, it certainly is getting more crowded, don’t know about better though.
Right from Marty to Rocky to Any Given Sunday. We have seen enough of these back in India also. Remember Awwal number 1? Technical advances have certainly been made with slick product like Lagaan, Chak De and Iqbal. Or even a story on gully cricket, very close to the heart of everyone who’s ever played in a soma or mrc: Chennai – 28.
Well am not trying to chronicle the rise of the sport movie nor make a commentary on the same. This is about what I think is my perfect sport movie.
My perfect sport movie is one when there’s no sporting action. Yup you read that right, absolutely no sporting action.
Yes in most sport movies this is the highlight but in my book it’s no big deal. Any sport set piece in a movie however great is never going to match up to the real thing. AND YOU KNOW WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE END.
The real cool part is if any movie manages to capture anything about what goes on behind the scenes. The Wrestler I thought managed to do this beautifully. (Hey don’t take my word for it Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson says he quickly moved into acting to escape this fate which befalls many professional wrestlers and agrees with the film). As his daughter so eloquently puts it Randy the Ram is a fuck up. And he knows it and accepts it. Even in his extremely small and futile attempt to clean up and live a normal life he’s not really clear as to what he’s doing. And of course like all sport movies he comes back…..but with an ending which I thought was perfect.
The movie manages to capture the motivations that drive the athlete rather than relegating it to a montage. That was the real victory.
With enough of the sport movie coming out in all languages, it certainly is getting more crowded, don’t know about better though.
Right from Marty to Rocky to Any Given Sunday. We have seen enough of these back in India also. Remember Awwal number 1? Technical advances have certainly been made with slick product like Lagaan, Chak De and Iqbal. Or even a story on gully cricket, very close to the heart of everyone who’s ever played in a soma or mrc: Chennai – 28.
Well am not trying to chronicle the rise of the sport movie nor make a commentary on the same. This is about what I think is my perfect sport movie.
My perfect sport movie is one when there’s no sporting action. Yup you read that right, absolutely no sporting action.
Yes in most sport movies this is the highlight but in my book it’s no big deal. Any sport set piece in a movie however great is never going to match up to the real thing. AND YOU KNOW WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE END.
The real cool part is if any movie manages to capture anything about what goes on behind the scenes. The Wrestler I thought managed to do this beautifully. (Hey don’t take my word for it Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson says he quickly moved into acting to escape this fate which befalls many professional wrestlers and agrees with the film). As his daughter so eloquently puts it Randy the Ram is a fuck up. And he knows it and accepts it. Even in his extremely small and futile attempt to clean up and live a normal life he’s not really clear as to what he’s doing. And of course like all sport movies he comes back…..but with an ending which I thought was perfect.
The movie manages to capture the motivations that drive the athlete rather than relegating it to a montage. That was the real victory.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Watchmen
This is not a movie review. Am too prejudiced in too many ways to give you a decent review of any movie. Even if I could, it will be more like whooooaaaaaa wtf, woooooow, woooooaaaahhhh if I like the movie or whooooaaaaaa wtf, woooooow, woooooaaaahhhh if I don’t!
So I have been reading a lot of the reviews for Watchmen. Some flattering, some scathing, some walk the line. I did see the movie couple of days back. Am not a graphic novel connoisseur by any stretch of imagination. In fact read Watchmen only a few years back. And I haven’t really read the apparently defining works like Maus or Persepolis. But there have been many critics who have been savaging the movie for looking just like the book and not doing enough with the story. I hear fan boys slobbering that the movie looked exactly like the book and angry that it went too off the book in terms of the story. And am wondering where do I fit in?
I was astonished by what Zack Snyder has done with the film. It was a blessing indeed that the movie wasn’t made before this. With his amazing eye for detail the director has been able to replicate the smallest details from the book onto the screen. And I was even more astonished by the screenplay; a complex book with many layers has been rendered comprehensible to everyone. I strongly felt that this was the real victory of the movie.
There have been critics from publications like The New Yorker who have heaped derision on the movie for being too slavishly devoted to the book and pandering to the fan boys. I would be surprised if the reviewer was anywhere below the age of 80 mentally if not physically. To not like the Watchmen is understandable but to look down upon a phenomenon like Alan Moore is just not cricket.(He finishes the review by saying wheres the comedy in comics these days? Hell if that isnt a 50 year old complaint)
It’s fairly simple actually. Any great book like The Godfather, LOTR etc the screenwriter and the director at least have the freedom to visualize the way the setting would look, the way the actors would be cast etc. Makers of legendary graphic novels don’t have this choice. The fan boys and girls not only want the same story without any liberties but they want it replicated on screen frame by frame. This is something which Zack Snyder has been very successful with, his love for the material comes through in every scene. If the creator takes any liberties at all with the source material the core audience that will create the big opening and the buzz and the word of mouth will be turned away. And if you don’t have a great opening, the normal film fan who might not know the work at all might not be intrigued. There are other factors of course in the marketing of a film but am looking at only the word of mouth creation.
In other comic books there are so many story lines and mythology that the creators can still get away. To be fair most movie adaptations of the stand alone GNs are fairly bad (am looking at you LXG/V for Vendetta). But then we want them up on screen also, and not through only animation but preferably live action. Directors like Robert Rodriguez and Zack Snyder are showing us how it can be done. Ironically Frank Miller one of the greats had royally screwed up the beloved character The Spirit in its film adaptation.
Hell you might just want to see the movie and see what the fuss is all about anyways. But if you really want to know what the fuss is all about pick up the book.
So I have been reading a lot of the reviews for Watchmen. Some flattering, some scathing, some walk the line. I did see the movie couple of days back. Am not a graphic novel connoisseur by any stretch of imagination. In fact read Watchmen only a few years back. And I haven’t really read the apparently defining works like Maus or Persepolis. But there have been many critics who have been savaging the movie for looking just like the book and not doing enough with the story. I hear fan boys slobbering that the movie looked exactly like the book and angry that it went too off the book in terms of the story. And am wondering where do I fit in?
I was astonished by what Zack Snyder has done with the film. It was a blessing indeed that the movie wasn’t made before this. With his amazing eye for detail the director has been able to replicate the smallest details from the book onto the screen. And I was even more astonished by the screenplay; a complex book with many layers has been rendered comprehensible to everyone. I strongly felt that this was the real victory of the movie.
There have been critics from publications like The New Yorker who have heaped derision on the movie for being too slavishly devoted to the book and pandering to the fan boys. I would be surprised if the reviewer was anywhere below the age of 80 mentally if not physically. To not like the Watchmen is understandable but to look down upon a phenomenon like Alan Moore is just not cricket.(He finishes the review by saying wheres the comedy in comics these days? Hell if that isnt a 50 year old complaint)
It’s fairly simple actually. Any great book like The Godfather, LOTR etc the screenwriter and the director at least have the freedom to visualize the way the setting would look, the way the actors would be cast etc. Makers of legendary graphic novels don’t have this choice. The fan boys and girls not only want the same story without any liberties but they want it replicated on screen frame by frame. This is something which Zack Snyder has been very successful with, his love for the material comes through in every scene. If the creator takes any liberties at all with the source material the core audience that will create the big opening and the buzz and the word of mouth will be turned away. And if you don’t have a great opening, the normal film fan who might not know the work at all might not be intrigued. There are other factors of course in the marketing of a film but am looking at only the word of mouth creation.
In other comic books there are so many story lines and mythology that the creators can still get away. To be fair most movie adaptations of the stand alone GNs are fairly bad (am looking at you LXG/V for Vendetta). But then we want them up on screen also, and not through only animation but preferably live action. Directors like Robert Rodriguez and Zack Snyder are showing us how it can be done. Ironically Frank Miller one of the greats had royally screwed up the beloved character The Spirit in its film adaptation.
Hell you might just want to see the movie and see what the fuss is all about anyways. But if you really want to know what the fuss is all about pick up the book.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Who’s better?
“So don’t you think Green Day is the best American band out there right now?” Question thrown my way innocently enough!
Big mouth…..”Hell Yeah”.
“Better than Red Hot Chili Peppers?”
Sucker punched, well played sir.
I have an irrational obsession with everything I like. Food and drink, music, movies etc…..this coupled with a pseudo intellectual streak and an almost psychotic immersion in the moment plays havoc with concepts like preferences, best, greatest, coolest and the like.
So I think Green Day is probably the band from my time that best epitomizes or comes closest to the bands of the past that were topical, made music keeping the external environment in mind, great showmen and amazing performers.
At the same time when I listen to a band like Red Hot Chili Peppers. They have come a long way in the last 10 years. From their hard core and punk rock origins to making music that appeals to a broader cross section it’s been a wild ride. And like I said am obsessed with RHCP.
Rationally logically Green Day stands for everything I believe in while RHCP certainly have gotten into a certain mushy, personal territory which I shouldn’t be playing up at all.
But I love RHCP and think they rock and they are the coolest band out there. Getting caught up in the moment is not so bad after all.
Big mouth…..”Hell Yeah”.
“Better than Red Hot Chili Peppers?”
Sucker punched, well played sir.
I have an irrational obsession with everything I like. Food and drink, music, movies etc…..this coupled with a pseudo intellectual streak and an almost psychotic immersion in the moment plays havoc with concepts like preferences, best, greatest, coolest and the like.
So I think Green Day is probably the band from my time that best epitomizes or comes closest to the bands of the past that were topical, made music keeping the external environment in mind, great showmen and amazing performers.
At the same time when I listen to a band like Red Hot Chili Peppers. They have come a long way in the last 10 years. From their hard core and punk rock origins to making music that appeals to a broader cross section it’s been a wild ride. And like I said am obsessed with RHCP.
Rationally logically Green Day stands for everything I believe in while RHCP certainly have gotten into a certain mushy, personal territory which I shouldn’t be playing up at all.
But I love RHCP and think they rock and they are the coolest band out there. Getting caught up in the moment is not so bad after all.
Monday, March 2, 2009
School picnics
I studied in the same school for 12 years. From the first grade to the twelfth.
And we used to have this mandatory manic student picnic/trip every year. Mandatory because the enthusiasm levels mustered by the organizers was in reverse proportion to the mayhem we were capable of generating. So the more moronic the trip the more ruckus we could create.
And for the first 4 years the venue was always “Guindy Park”. Ask any kid who was born in the late 70s in Madras about Guindy Park and you would see this very distinctive look which bridges a whole lot of emotions and expletives. This was a place so mind numbing that the mayhem potential was quickly culled out.
Guindy Park had a lot of advantages. It was bang in the middle of the city, meant that we could do a day trip and be back in school second half. It dint really have too many exhibits, meant that we dint have to spend too much time there and be back in school second half. We usually went on a weekday which meant that there wasn’t too much of a crowd and be back in school second half. (My school really dint think too much of activities done outside school premises)
The biggest advantage was of course that most of the kids had already been there with family on some weekends or had already been part of an earlier school trip to the same venue. So we could pretty much be left to our devices as we would know the tour path and the accompanying teachers dint have to do too much policing.
For many years when the zoo would get a new animal, anything from as innocuous as a field rat or as dangerous as a bandicoot, there would be immense coverage in The Hindu. (Note: I said The Hindu and not the newspaper, we dint acknowledge the existence of other newspapers, but that of course is a topic for another day) I would like to think that the attendance swelled with hoards of bored looking kids being dragged towards the GP.
Oh I forgot another big advantage of GP was that there was this Mahatma Gandhi memorial right next to it. A fairly bleak empty place with pics of the grand old man and some sad looking portraits with some of his quotes. Not really telling us about who he really was nor what he said nor what he had done. Definitely must have been part of some centenary celebrations and the dude heading the govt then wanted his name on a plaque next to one of the most important people in the history of the world.
Still cant figure out the point of these half day school outings. Educational? Hmmm not really. The kids have fun? Hmmm not really, we always had someone screaming at us for daring to break away from the line. The place itself wasn’t of any landmark importance that it would make us want to revisit it when we were older.
Just another one of those have to do this once a year, lets get it over with so that the kids can get back to school and continue their quest towards becoming better engineers and accountants.
Funny this post started off a fairly happy one.
And we used to have this mandatory manic student picnic/trip every year. Mandatory because the enthusiasm levels mustered by the organizers was in reverse proportion to the mayhem we were capable of generating. So the more moronic the trip the more ruckus we could create.
And for the first 4 years the venue was always “Guindy Park”. Ask any kid who was born in the late 70s in Madras about Guindy Park and you would see this very distinctive look which bridges a whole lot of emotions and expletives. This was a place so mind numbing that the mayhem potential was quickly culled out.
Guindy Park had a lot of advantages. It was bang in the middle of the city, meant that we could do a day trip and be back in school second half. It dint really have too many exhibits, meant that we dint have to spend too much time there and be back in school second half. We usually went on a weekday which meant that there wasn’t too much of a crowd and be back in school second half. (My school really dint think too much of activities done outside school premises)
The biggest advantage was of course that most of the kids had already been there with family on some weekends or had already been part of an earlier school trip to the same venue. So we could pretty much be left to our devices as we would know the tour path and the accompanying teachers dint have to do too much policing.
For many years when the zoo would get a new animal, anything from as innocuous as a field rat or as dangerous as a bandicoot, there would be immense coverage in The Hindu. (Note: I said The Hindu and not the newspaper, we dint acknowledge the existence of other newspapers, but that of course is a topic for another day) I would like to think that the attendance swelled with hoards of bored looking kids being dragged towards the GP.
Oh I forgot another big advantage of GP was that there was this Mahatma Gandhi memorial right next to it. A fairly bleak empty place with pics of the grand old man and some sad looking portraits with some of his quotes. Not really telling us about who he really was nor what he said nor what he had done. Definitely must have been part of some centenary celebrations and the dude heading the govt then wanted his name on a plaque next to one of the most important people in the history of the world.
Still cant figure out the point of these half day school outings. Educational? Hmmm not really. The kids have fun? Hmmm not really, we always had someone screaming at us for daring to break away from the line. The place itself wasn’t of any landmark importance that it would make us want to revisit it when we were older.
Just another one of those have to do this once a year, lets get it over with so that the kids can get back to school and continue their quest towards becoming better engineers and accountants.
Funny this post started off a fairly happy one.
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