நீயா நானா (11/2/13) – ஒரு விமர்சனம்

சென்ற வார நீயா நானாவின்(http://mypipetamil.com/neeya-naana/Neeya-Naana-11-02-2013-Neeya-Naana-11-February-2013-VijayTv-Show/) கரு எனக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்தமானதாய் இருந்தது. எந்த அளவுக்கு மாணவர்களுக்கு சமூக விழிப்புணர்வு இருக்கின்றது என்பதே அதன் மையம்.ஆனால், சிறு பூனைகளை சிருத்தைகளுக்கு எதிர்த்து வைத்தாற்போன்று, ஒரு பக்கம் சமூக சேவகர்கள். மறு பக்கம் சமூக சிந்தனையே மருந்துக்கு கூட இல்லாத 24 மாணவர்கள்.

இந்த மாணவர்களைப் பார்த்து அனைத்து சமூக சிந்தனைக் கேள்விகளையும் மறு தரப்பினர் வைக்கின்றார்கள், சில சமயங்களில் சாடுகின்றார்கள், சில சமயங்களில் நடுவில் இருக்கும் கோபினாத் சிங்கம் போல் கொஞ்சம் கர்ஜிக்கின்றார். எனக்கு புலப்படாத ஒன்று, இங்கே நீயா  நானா  எங்கே இருக்கின்றது?  எனக்கு “நீ” மட்டுமே தென்படுகின்றது.

தேடிப்பிடித்த(?) 24 பேருமே, வெறும் தன் படிப்பு, தன் கல்லூரி, தன் ipad என்று வளர்ந்தவர்கள் போலும். அவர்களுடைய ஒரே எண்ணம், Campus placement, நல்ல சம்பளம், கார், மற்ற இதரவைகளாக இருக்கக்கூடும். இவர்களைப் பார்த்து உங்களுக்கு அது தெரியவில்லையா, இது தெரியவில்லையா என்று கேட்பது மகா அபத்தம்.

1980க்கு அப்பால் பிறந்த அனைவரையும் இந்த “உலகமயமாக்கம்” தத்து எடுத்துக்கொண்டது என்பது ஒரு நிதர்சன உண்மை. அனைவரையும் பணம் சம்பாதிக்கும் ATMஆக பெற்றோர்கள் வளர்த்திருக்கின்றார்களே தவிர, சமூக சிந்தனைகள் எல்லாம் facebookஇல் ஒரு like போடும் அளவுக்கு தான் இருக்கின்றது.

சமூக சேவகர்களின் மறு பக்கத்தில் இந்த 24 பேரை பெற்றவர்களை அமர்த்தியிருக்க வேண்டும். அப்போது தான் இது நீயா நானா. மாணவர் அணியின் 24 பேருமே வெறும் அம்பு தான். எய்தவர்கள், தங்கள் பிள்ளைகள் திட்டு வாங்குவதை டி.வியில் பார்த்து கொண்டிருக்கின்றார்கள்.

கணிப்பொறியில் வேலை செய்வது , கார்ப்பரேட் வேர்ல்ட் என்கின்ற வார்த்தைகள் இந்த நீயா நானா அரங்கில் தவறாகப் பார்க்கப்படுகின்றது. "corporate world" என்ற வார்த்தை சொல்லும் போதே, சில சமயங்களில் கோபினாத்தின் BP உயர்வதை நான் பார்க்கின்றேன் :) . ஒரு உண்மை என்னவென்றால் கணிப்பொரியிலும் சமூக சிந்தனை இருக்கின்றது. ஒரு இரயில் பயண முன்பதிவு இணைய தளமான irctc ( அதில் பல பிரச்சனைகள் இருந்தாலும் கூட), அதை கணினி மயமாக்கியிருப்பதே ஒரு சமூக பிரச்சனையின் தீர்வு தான். வருடத்திற்கு 500 கோடி மக்கள் செல்லும் இந்திய இரயில்வேயில், இந்த முன்பதிவு மூலம் சுமார் 100 கோடி பேராவது பயனடைவார்கள் என்று எண்ணுகின்றேன். இவர்கள் உட்கார்ந்த இடத்துலேயே முன்பதிவு செய்வதால் குரைந்த பட்சம் 30 நிமிடங்கள் சேமிக்கின்றார்கள். அது 300 கோடி நிமிடங்கள், அதாவது 60 கோடி மணி நேர சேமிப்பு ஒரு வருடத்தில். இந்த 60 கோடி மணி நேரம், 1141 மக்களின் மொத்த வாழ்க்கை நேரம்( ஒரு மனித வாழ்வு 50 வருட விகிதத்தில்). இது மொத்தமும் ஒரு வருடத்தின் சேமிப்பு தான். இப்படி ஒவ்வொரு துரையிலும் இந்த சேமிப்பு நடந்து கொண்டிருக்கின்றது. அதற்காக எல்லா கணிப்பொரியாளர்களும் சமூக சேவகர்கள் என்று நான் சொல்ல வரவில்லை, அங்கேயும் சமூக சிந்தனை(wikipedia etc.,) இருக்கின்றது, அவ்வளவே.

வந்திருந்த மாணவர்களை எப்படி நீய நானா டீம் தேர்வு செய்தது என்பது அந்த இல்லாத ஆண்டவனுக்கே வெளிச்சம். அந்த மாணவர்களிடம் காஷ்மிர் என்றவுடன் உங்களுக்கு முதலில் என்ன ஞாபகம் வருகின்றது என்று கேட்டால், snow என்று சொன்னாலும் சொல்லுவார்கள். அப்படி மணியான 24 மாணவர்கள். அவர்களை நான் முட்டாள் என்று சொல்லவில்லை; அவர்கள் தங்களது கவனத்தை படிப்பு போன்ற விஷயத்தில் தீவிரமாக செலுத்துகின்றார்கள், அதனால் அவர்களின் சமூக சிந்தனை கேள்விக்குரியதாகவே இருக்கின்றது.

இந்த மாணவர்களின் தேர்வு முறையைப் பற்றிய கேள்விக்கு கோபினாத் “ஒவ்வொரு கல்லூரியிலும் இருந்து ஒரு மாணவனை அனுப்ப சொன்னோம், அவர்கள் அனுப்பினார்கள்” என்று சொல்லுகின்றார். விழிப்பான சமுதாயம் வேண்டும் என்று சொல்லும் கோபினாத்தே இங்கே மந்தமான பதிலைத் தான் தருகின்றார்.

எதிர் அணியில் இருக்கும் 24 சமூக சேவகர்களோ ஏதோ “letterpad office” விதமாகத் தான் பேசுகின்றார்கள், அவர்கள் ஒவ்வொருத்தரும் கூட்டம் கூட்டினால் 20-30 பேர் சேருவார்கள் போலத்  தெரிகின்றது. அவர்களைப் பார்த்து ஒரு மாணவன் கூட, “ ஏன் நீங்கள் ஒரு பெரிய விதமாக எங்களை reach பண்ணவில்லை?” என்று கேட்கவில்லை. அந்த கேள்வியையும் கோபினாத்தே வைக்கின்றார். அற்புதமான மாணவ சக்தியை உபயோகப்படுத்தாமல், அவர்களைப் போய் சந்தித்து, ஊக்குவித்து, ஒருங்கிணைத்து, ஒரு நல்ல ஆக்கத்திற்குப் பயன்படுத்தாமல், இவர்கள் இங்கே மாணவர்களைப் பார்த்து “உங்களுக்கு இது தெரியுமா, உங்களுக்கு அது தெரியுமா?” என்று கேட்பது வெறும் 24 மாணவர்களை கூப்பிட்டு திட்டி அனுப்பும் show ஆகத் தான் முடிந்தது.

என் சிறு வயதில், மதுரை மாநகரின் நடு வீதியிலே நடக்கும் பேச்சுக் கூட்டங்கள் ஞாபகத்திற்கு வருகின்றன. கருணானிதி, வைகோ, கா.காளிமுத்து,  RSS சங்கர நாரயணன் போன்ற அரசியல் சார்ந்தவர்களின் பேச்சு கேட்க மணிக்கணக்கில் மக்கள் வெல்லம் காத்துக் கிடக்கும். மூண்று மணி னேரம் நின்று கொண்டே இவர்கள் பேச்சைக் கேட்கும் அந்தக் கூட்டம். இவர்கள் அனைவரும் பேச்சுக்கலையில் கை தேர்ந்தவர்கள். தங்கள் பேச்சாற்றலால் மக்கள் சக்தியைக் கவர்ந்து அவர் அவர் கொள்கைக்கு உகந்தவாறு பயன்படுத்திக் கொண்டார்கள். மக்கள் சக்தியை தம் வசமாக்குவதற்காக முற்போக்கு சிந்தனைகளை தெளிப்பார்கள், இலக்கியத்தைத் தொடுவார்கள், அரசியலை நுகர்வார்கள், சமூக சிந்தனையை ஓரளவுக்குக் கொடுத்தார்கள். 

இந்த யுத்தியை சமூக ஆர்வலர்களும் பின்பற்றினால் இன்னும் அதிக பலன் கிட்டுமென நம்புகின்றேன். மக்களை வசியப்படுத்தும் பேச்சாற்றலை வளர்த்துக் கொள்ளுங்கள். மக்களை அனுகுங்கள். நீங்கள் தளபதியாக இருந்து சிப்பாய்களைத் தேடாதீர்கள், உங்களில் ஒருவர் தலைவனாக மாறுங்கள். சிப்பாய்கள் தானாக வந்து சேர்வார்கள்.

கடைசியாக : ஜாதிக்கட்சியை ஆதரிக்கும் மாணவனுக்கு “நீயா நானா” டீம் பரிசு கொடுத்ததை “நீயா நானா” இரசிகன் என்கின்ற முறையில், வன்மையாக கண்டிக்கின்றேன்.

South Vs North - II

Please read South Vs North - Part I @ http://prasadsalatchi.blogspot.com/2009/03/south-vs-north-i.html before reading this.

And from ancient times, I believe North Indians were more confident than south Indians!!Starting with this god funda, they were able to market Lord Ganesh from North to South. I dont think we made them buy any god who originated from south. For people who dont know, or did not cross the Tamilnadu state, Lord Ganesh is not any brother of Lord Muruga as it is in Tamilnadu. Because in North, Lord Muruga doesnt even exist at first place. Ganesh is originally a North Indian god, and we brought him into our already existing stories, gave him few
relations like shiva, parvathy and Muruga(ofcourse Ouvaiyyar, mango etc.,). We should have done this for the sake of 'Unity in Diversity'. And so needless to tell about the festival "Ganesh Chathurthy" which is again a North thing that we celeberate. My concern is not that we are celeberating Northie things, but ,the failure in marketing south things to north!!

They created the story ramayana, and all south indians in this epic are portrayed as either Monkeys or Asuras(rakshasa). The ones that helped Lord Rama in Rameshwaram to build the bridge to srilanka is all south Indian people itseems(and they call us monkeys).The so-called Asuras are nothing but Dravidians(the south indians basically). You must have seen the Ramayana in DoorDarshan Television where the Rakshasas have huge eyebrows, mustache etc, (specific qualities of Dravidians). And am really amazed at their confidence level, their confidence to market this story in south India. They have made dravidians pray Lord Rama, and made all dravidians hate themselves(dravidians) in Ramayana.

Coming to recent times, look at the festivals, that have been marketed across India.In south, people started celeberating Holi, Rakhi etc., I couldnt think of any festival that went from south to north.

And I really love the way North Indians celeberate their festivals. They dance man, they dance!! Ofcourse, its their culture to dance in weddings and southies dnt have that funda. But still you need confidence to dance too!! They dont care a shit about what others think, looking at their dance steps!! They just enjoy dancing!! We try dancing, and within a minute, we realise 'what do people around me think of my pathetic steps' and then stop dancing. We simply miss the enjoyment that we are supposed to have, rather than thinking on how appealing we are dancing to others!!!

On a travel, I met a stranger arnd 45 years. He was telling me, that he was one of the very few people to own a washing machine in Tamilnadu.He bought it from Mumbai when he went on a business trip in late 80's he said. That was some lesser known mumbai company product itseems. After 2 years, when he again went to Mumbai, he saw people using washing machines in Petty shops to stirr Lassi!!!! Which time, not even significant number of homes in South had washing machines!!

And if you still consider small scale businesses, North is always on a higher edge. You can find all the new machinaries, new products exhibition happening at Pragati Maidan Delhi. And it will take atleast 2 years for a same kind of exhibition to happen at any Industry chamber at Chennai or Tamukkam Maidanam at madurai, which time the complete business market for that new product is dominated by some North Indian company.

And at any given time, from a top level, I can see tat North is ahead of south by atleast 3 years!!My aim here is, not to offend Northies, but just my anxiety that southies arent competing with Northies.If they are confident, we should be confident enough too, to compete with them.I wish I dont hear any more jargons like " Vadakku Vaalhirathu, Therku Theyhirathu" (North is living, South is fading)!!

Two things that I see, which can develop confidence in us.
One is from Parents perspective.
It is high time, that they stop telling "You cant do" to their children. Atleast I was brought up like this; Atleast all kids I know were brought up like this!! When I wanted to join a piano class @6th std, my dad told me "Entha chetty payalavathu Harmonium petty thookki paathirukkiya?". This is just another form of "you cant do it". On a majority, parents always unknowingly raise their children with negative seeds "You cant do it", "dont do" etc., These when seeden at early stages of childhood, every child starts restricting their own capability!! And eventually when they see someone who does stuff that they think they cannot do, their confidence dies!! Parents got to stop this way of preaching life, and start the positive approach "You can do it".
Am not stating all North Indian parents are taking this approach; But the ratio of "you cant do it" from a North indian parent is less, when compared with southies.

The Second way to improve confidence is from The Education board's perspective.
Books at 4th std or 5th std or atleast at 10th std, they should have a subject on self-confidence!!They can have theory and practicals for it too!!They should be taught about the amazing power within us, and how we can use that to be successful. They should be taught about all real-world examples, success stories of extraordinary people etc., Make them realize what confidence can do to their lives, even if they dont have a 'A' grade.
And can have practicals too, like take a boy who fears of doing something, give him enough confidence to do that, train him and break his barrier!!This practical should give the boy, as well all the fellows around him enough confidence that any thing is possible in this world with this power of confidence.
We dont need any English-non-detail books at 10th std, when you dont teach us the most important concept(confidence) in life!! I dont prefer schools just looking at temporary goals, like to score 100% pass result in the district, when they miss on the long-term goal!! Their long-term goal should be to make the children realise the power they have within them, that can guide them for the rest of their life. Afterall, Marks speak only when we are till Higher secondary!!
This approach is not in North too, but they would also need this!! Cos, whatever I compared from south Vs North, similarly the North Indians are as weak when compared to western country folks in confidence!!

South Vs North - I

The difference between a north indian and a south indian?
Confidence.
And you know who has it less!!

In Bombay, most of the managers in my company were telling me 'South Indians are brilliant'. That was a pat on my back, as well for other few southies.
Didnt take more than a minute to realise that "why there arent any top line South Indian managers". I realised "Dude, you need confidence to excel at the top and not just mere talent".
Compare all 'A' executives in India, the majority is North Indians.
South Indians basically do blue collar jobs for them!!
When I say software engineering is a blue collar job, I have a justification for it.
Any place where money comes in, is an office, and thats a white collar job.
Any place where product comes, is a factory(a software development centre in this context), and thats a blue collar job.
Just because we are able to buy and wear a Satin White shirt from Van Heusen, doesnt mean we are doing a white collar job, as most think!! We are on a, just highly paid blue collar job!!

My friend's dad was telling his story once to me.During his young ages, when he had a trip to North with his friend, he saw a Northie guy boarding into his compartment sitting front of him.The guy was like fair, handsome, tall, well dressed and smart.He and his friend were observing him closely. And slowly they initiated a talk with that guy.
And they asked him usual questions like "where you from"," what you do" etc.., for which the guy promptly answered their questions and started reading his book.
My friends dad, asked him like, "dont you want to know where we are from?", the guy without taking his look from the book replied " Ya I know you guys are from Madras".
Shocked by his answer he asked him how he figured it out. The guy replied him an answer too, and my friends dad did not remember the exact answer. But he told me that the guy replied in such a polished way, that looking at their behaviour he was sure they were from Madras itseems.

During our ragging sessions(we call it INTRO sessions) at my masters @ REC Trichy, when seniors asked us about our virginity status, I remember three guys out of 51 told that they are not virgins. And they werent south Indians.It takes guts and confidence too(morality is not the topic we discussing here) to lose virginity. I accept that even if some south Indian was not a virgin, he wouldnt reveal it. Still the point here is, the confidence,between a south Indian and a North Indian, to stand for what he is.

There was this good female friend of mine, telling me that she doesnt like to talk with Tamil guys and shes okay with Northie guys. When I asked why she told me "They dont look at my face and talk. you know what I mean". I told "it is true, probably that is the maximum that they can do!! And I added "they just look, n dont dare more than that, that they are harmless". And with Northie guys, am sure they have the guts(as per democracy)!!

And from ancient times, I believe North Indians were ..... (Continued @ http://prasadsalatchi.blogspot.com/2009/03/south-vs-north-ii.html )

Antha mathiri

Life gives you the road, to get whatever you want in this world. It is we, who most of the times choose the wrong road.

As you know, NIT's have 50% in-state quota and 50% other state quota.And so we had guys and girls from Tamilnadu, and from states all of India, speaking different languages!

BE Architecture(might be B.Tech too, nt sure)..Nothing special about this course in NIT Trichy. Heard only about 50% of candidates get placements.But all dept guys had a craze for this Archi.. sorry, for the Archi girls. They were supposed to be the best breed in the campus.They were posh, stylish , confident and beautiful.I dont know if some relation exists between beautiful girls and the Architecture course.They were proving that year after year!!`

Most of us would have had crushes! I had only one('only' is a lie!!)!!The best or worst part about the crush is, its a fading thing.. You start moving with someone whom you have a crush, chances are it would fade away when you get to know them more better.Sometimes they evolve to be a love.

There was this girl from BE Archi, who was beautiful(but her friends were very beautiful). And she had some charisma in her, something attracted me, and made me look at her whenever she passes by.. in cafeteria,snacketeria,juicy etc..,Was even a bit upset when I saw her with another guy :)

But I never thought of talking to her even when I wanted to. Cos, her looks clearly told me that she is a North Indian, and all her conversations that I over-heard were in hi-fi english. I didnt have enough confidence to move with a girl conversing in any language other than my mother tongue. So she was always a crush to me.

And I didnt even bother initiating a 'Hi' when I had few opportunities to talk to, in 2.5 years!!And I dont even know her name until now!The way she smiles, has a beautiful start and a awesome finish, that you would want her to smile for some more time.She looked like a girl with no head-weight. She was modern but simple. Her looks told me always that she is a good person.Had a curly hair, which should tell other women that hairs should curl not less than this and not more than this.From far off, i was able to see her living every minute in her life. I saw a 'humble touch' in things she was doing. She was very lively. And above all, she didnt have a boyfriend!!

I always stayed far-off from her, cos I liked looking at her!And I guess, she knows that am looking at her(sometimes self-assumptions help console better)!!And the fact that I cant get closer to her and still have a careful look, which will make her notice me, stopped me doing that!

It was our Farewell week. And almost every department guys where leaving the campus. And I am about to leave the campus on the following day.I was with couple friends of mine, having a Banana Juice(thats the cheapest, @4 INR).. And here is this gal who came with two other friends.I changed my chair, and now sitting very close to her, facing her. The reason is obvious. You get the guts when you are about to leave the place.She did notice me, and she was more into talking with her friends. I just ordered another orange juice (@7 INR, and you know why it is orange juice now), to make my stay there justifiable. I was there, staring at this girl, observing every action of hers, with my hands on my cheeks. I was able to clearly follow the conversation. The more closer to her I was, I was lamenting on with "why is this girl not a tamilian", which made me just stare at her for past 2.5 years then.

And when I had this thought, this girl and her friends were talking about some books and authors whom they like. Now, I heard this girl whom i had crush uttering these words to her friend" Ohhh.. you are talking like.. antha mathiri authors eh?"

I took off my hands from my cheeks, to realise that I had a mild attack in me. Walked towards my hostel with a heavy-heart(?!), trying to stop any any further thinking!!

(Note 1: 'Anthamathiri'(meaning:that kind) is a tamil word.And its not possible for some non-tamilian to use the word fluently, like here)

(Note 2: Now,Read the first two lines of this post again)

'Kandahar' - Movie

KANDAHAR(2001)

Kandahaar...The story starts with a beautiful Afghan lady named Nafas(settled in Canada) on her way to Kandahaar,after receiving a letter from her sister(living in Kandahar, Afghanistan, who was left behind when the family escaped from Afghanistan to Canada), that she plans on committing suicide at the 4th day from then. Importantly, the story ends at the 3rd day itself, while Nafas is still on her way to Kandahar!!

Between the start and end, every second in the movie is an interesting piece of information to you. Yes, I just knew no woman is allowed to speak or show her face to a man other than her husband in Taliban's rule after watching this scene:
Its a hospital where, the patient(woman) gets herself behind one side of a curtain and the doctor is on the other side, and the lady's kid in between the curtain.
The doctor asks the kid "From when, is the stomache paining".
The kid asks the mother "from when, is the stomach paining".
The mother tells the kid "since yday noon".
and the kid in turn tells the doctor "since yday noon" .
This kinda conversation goes on to form 4-5 dialogues.. and then the doctor asks the kid to ask her mother to come near the curtain. There is a round hole in the curtain, and the woman brings her stomach near the curtain. The doctor examines her stomach thru the hole in the curtain and prescribes her...

There are
#Children robbing corpses to survive,
#Women buy lipsticks, take the mirror inside their barka and then put it on their lips(just to show it to none!!)
#People(who have both legs) fighting for artificial limbs provided in the US camp which they might need in case they lose while walking the minefield,
#a boy aged 8 dismissed from the school as he did not remember the 'Kuraan' wordings and failed to assemble an AK47 in the given time limits
Hell lot of scenes like this, that throws light on how continous years of war had destroyed the Afghan community.

You wanna story, and you dont want to search and read 30 Pages of news about Afghanistan to understand whats goin on there; Well, This crafted piece is for you then!!!

Is a 2001 movie by Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. No wonder why Iranian movies top the WORLD CINEMA..

I saw it in Iranian Film Festival in Chennai. The DVD is available in Chennai Paris DVD market too, and broadbanders can use Torrentz to get it!!

Teen Thoughts!!

I did get these thoughts when I was around my teen ages.May be you did get this too.

Why should we be born and be dead?
What is the purpose of this inbetween period where we are born and are dead! Do we got to do something here?
Few say,
we should make this a better place for others, and thats the purpose of life!! Thats so stupid(in this context)!!What is the point in making this a better place for others, who also dont know the purpose of their lives!!
Some say,
we should make this place better for Mother Earth.Thats crap too!! Human beings have drained everything in this world. Their first and foremost thing in life is to utilize all the natural resources around them. Needless to say about t!!
Some say,
just to live and go!! okay.... but still, why cant I be an audience when "All the world's a stage"!!

What if everyone gets to know their death date?
I remember Prof.Gyanasambandan telling that like we know our birth dates, none would be happy if we know our death dates.And then, no one would call names; they would probably call by dates, 'Hey Dec10, come here' kindof talks.And there wud be chances of people feeling happy even under these circumstances, " Mine is atleast Nov18; poor guy, he goes by June itself".And there might be people coming to your home on March1 if your death date was March1. Chances are they might even casually ask you "are you not leaving now?", if we are still alive after office hours!!!

Why does sex have to be this way?
Was during my ninth at school. While walking to a busstop, raj(he is no more, n name changed) told me how it works.He told he saw it in StarTV(initially they werent censored in India), when everyone at his home are asleep. Until he told me, I was thinking like if I hug someone, she might get pregnant! I actually even thought that men and women if they touch for a long time, that is sex!!
And It would be a great humour if I tell you the story of a 3hr bus journey where I was alone(I was at 8th std), and there is a young woman(20 to 25) who literally slept on me. I was praying god, she shouldnt get pregnant cos of me!!!
I couldnt accept the whole fact of sex when raj told me. I couldnt digest that it is nothing but action of the private parts of both the gender!!And I couldnt take the fact that the whole world is made up of this!! Me, he, she, they.. did everyone who came into this world came because of this ugly action is what I thought by then..
Later on I had to accept the truth!!
But still, felt it would be great if human beings could have had different parts for waste excretion and different parts for sex!!
Probably the so called Gods were parts-cutting(they are costs for them) and wanted to use the already existing openings in our body..
If my understanding is right, this is the reason why people are crazy about boobs through out this world. Cos, thats the only other sexually involved part and no waste is excreted out from it. This must be giving all guys(n these days, for girls too) the 'feel-good' thinking I guess.

What if I fall down from this place?
I got this thought, whenever I reached any tallest point. Be it a temple tower, be it the roof of a tall building, be it some dangerous points in Kodaikanal.
My first horrible thought would be is, hw would it feel like if I fall down from here. In 'suicide point' in kodaikanal, I had this thought. Would I be shouting 'aaaaa' if I fall.Would my family get my remains of me? How difficult wud be to get thru the post-mortem, police process .Crazy Crazy!!

Does Kamalhassan or Ambani sleep n eat like me?
Amazed my their achievements, when I get to bed trying to sleep, I get this one.Do these VIPs too sleep like I do. Do they try to sleep or sleep? I tried to feel like them, how does it feel to be a VVVIP and rolling on the bed, trying to catch up with sleep.
How does it feel when you breathe, and you are Ambani?

Why should seperation come?
This is something that haunts me, Seperation.
I am kind of emotional person, though I dnt seem to be in my outward looks.Just because I talk all crap, there are few people who think that am playing around, and dnt really value the relation.And those would be surprised seeing me crying when am about to part them. The problem here is, I do really value the relation, but fail in communicating to the other end. I know am missing something, to make others understand that I really value their relation.I dont know what it is though!! Friends who are long time with me realise this part.
And all seperations were tougher for me. I found myself in tears on my last day at school, UG, PG and when my close roomates left the room to fly to a different place etc,
I still keep thinking why should this seperation happen....

Man is a veg or non-veg?
Sounds a stupid question, but has an interesting answer.
If am rite, it is my best pal Manikandan, who told me this.
All beings which suck and drink water are vegetarians. [ deer, elephant, horse etc]
All beings which lick and drink water are non-vegetarians(or carnivorous)[lion, tiger, dog].
By this theory man is a Vegetarian by design, but evolved to be a non vegetarian.If we can find answer for what made this change happen, we can also find the answer for "why are cows eating papers(posters on wall) these days?". This happens in India atleast; Cant comment on US, cos, at first place I havent seen a cow or a poster on the wall in US!!

[IMPORTANT: LET ME KNOW IF YOU KNOW ANY BEING WHICH IS AN EXCEPTION TO THE ABOVE THEORY]

Hw many people in this world are having sex, in this minute ?
This was during my teen ages!! When I knew what sex is, n when I knew people telling it is pleasure n when I knew how deprived we were to feel it, I got this thought.
How many people would be having it rite now, this minute, in my town, in my state, in my country, in my planet??!!
Later on I understood the fact that sex means nothing without love!! If I had got this clarity during my teen ages, probably I would have been thinking how many lovers are there this minute, in this world!!

What if I have his face?
Teen age ones.. I didnt even have any friends from the female gender through out my school life.And I didnt think there is a possibility for friendship between the opposite genders(though actually not, as per segmund freud's observations).
The only form of a girl in my mind was, she could only be a lover to me.
And why didnt I have a girl friend? Most of us(actually, all) at that age we believed you can get
a girl, only if you have a handsome face!! By that time, I didnt think am handsome!! And that is when I got this thought, What if I have his face?(usually some friend of mine who has a handsome face). But even at that thought I was afraid what if I get his brain too when I get his face. I actually loved my brain, and didnt want it to be replaced. I did think about brain transplantation too!!

Do you think, how wrong I was about 'girls need only handsome guys'?
I was right.. I was immature at those ages, thinking only a handsome face could win a girl!!Similar fashion, girls were also immature at those ages, thinking all they needed in this world is a handsome guy!!

What if My dad is like his dad?
There were lot many instances where I felt this. Why cant my dad be friendly like his.There was an incident during my school days. A guy in my class was accused for tasting 'Kanja'. I dont think it is true. For some reason the disciplinary commitee picked up this case, cos they werent happy with the boy's attitude and called his father.
The teacher told his father, "Unga paiyan Kanja saapuduraan sir".
His father replied very cool, "athu enna, sora saapidurathukku?".
He had so much confidence that his son would not have done that!! And he came out of the hall, we were some 15 guys waiting out to see the after-effects of the meeting.We were expecting a 'hard face' from his father. He looked very cool, smiling and talking to his son.. and he saw all of us, n he asked him "Are these your friends?".. When he said yes, his father waved hands at us happily..There werent many fathers from all people I have seen, who were friendly with their son and with his friends.There was this friend of mine, ArunPrakash, and his father was my friend too!


I know these are crazy crazy thoughts(well, thoughts are supposed to be crazy. And thats the reason nature has given us thoughts, and the talks; and the option to censor your thoughts and talk!!)

FYI, these were my thoughts during my teen and immediate years following teen ages. This is my disclaimer!!

Nizhalkal magazine

I was getting really bored during mid 2007 with the software engineering life at
Accenture Chennai. Woke up early at 10AM to see my clothes arent pressed. Though had an Iron box didnt want to exploit someone's job!! So took my set of clothes to the near-by laundry man to get it pressed.

Told him I need it in 15 mins and I need to goto office.He starred at me. He asked me did you get an appointment order just now to report to office ... I smiled and said him 'Yes'.

Probably the man didnt like my carelessness or my 'no-planning' sense.. Probably he didnt realise that if I was so planned, I would do it myself!!
I liked the man, he was the only man in my surroundings who works for everyone's shirt, but
doesnt wear one.. with bones protruding on his shoulders, white-thorn beard..

Went for a shower, with the doors opened for the laundryman to keep my clothes in(My home doors were always opened, as we got nothing other than shoes and clothes to feed the robber).. Came outta bathroom and saw my clothes wrapped up in a news paper.. Untied the thread around it, and when I was about to get my shirt there was an advt that caught my eye.. " A workshop on short-film making" .. and there was details about the 5 day programme at Trichy.

The workshop was organised by Nizhazhkal Association headed by Thirunavukkarasu. Had just a mobile number and name. The paper wasnt too big to show me the date of the publication. Called the number and figured out the programme was about to happen in a month's time. I wanted to meet the man Thirunavukkarasu who si organizing this workshop. Even when I did hav the chance of doing an online transfer I decided to meet him in person and give him the workshop fee.

Called him, set up an appointment , he was living at an interior part of KK Nagar, was a Govt Housing board. Couldnt really get the place. He asked me to stay in a temple, and he came all the way to pick me up!!
Man, he should be definitely 45 or so. He took us to his apartment, and that was actually a tiny room that he has rented to run his magazine Nizhazhkal.This magazine concentrates only on film news, not the gossip ones!! Purely productive film news!! Giving a tough review for all the movies produced in Tamil, appropriately encouraging the right ones!! Had an hour discussion, was happy to meet a man who is completely passionate towards movies at his age! Cos, I have seen all fathers at his age are interested only in computers!!

Here are my findings about this man,
#1 he runs a magazine- I doubt it is really profitable.
#2 He is conducting film workshops through out the state, in different cities every quarter- These are yet to prove any results
#3 He knows lotof stuff about movies, bt he isnt really aspiring to be any film maker, just wants to be a mentor some or the other way
#4 His family support is all unknown to me..

Inspite of all this, I saw this man really energetic and HAPPY about what he is doing!!
This kept on puzzling me, I kept on talking to him to understand where he wants to go..
He confirmed that he would be happy if he promotes quality cinema through any of his activities. Seeing question marks all over my face, he told me
"namma thevaigal romba kuraivu.. perusa porul thevai ellam kidayathu.. enakku intha vishayam pudichirukku, itha seyyren.." and took his Jolna bag, and was all set to catch the city bus to his home at Porur.
Travelling in a city bus at Chennai, I swear- you should be a sanyasi!! You should be selfless, You should forget the world around you, the odour in people around you after a dog-tired day at Chennai weather, you would need approvals to move your legs(from the ones who is stamping your leg)!!

At the end of the day, me and my best pal Manikandan, was happy meeting this man!!

Note: Nizhazhkal is conducting another workshop on filmmaking, where the veteran BaluMahendra is preceding it, in First week of May 2009.