I read this everyday(well almost)..Its one heckuva laught riot..Though maybe this was written quite some time back, still it seems too good..

(From Ramesh Mahadevan - An Algorithmic Approach to ModernTamil Verse)

Algorithm number 1 is very simple. Just take any object. Think for a second and discover one of its attributes. It doesn't matter if there is anything creative or poetic about the attribute and the object. You simply say 'Object-kku attribute azhagu'. For example,
Rasathukku uppazhagu, vishathukku warning azhagupazhathukku juice azhagu, kizhathukku thadi azhagu(Salt beautifies rasam; 'warning' beautifies poison; juice beautifies a fruit and a walking stick beautifies an old person)
You can carry this one step further and compose the next stanza,
Wire-kku current azhagu Vaigaikku karai azhaguVayatrukku thoppul azhagu, vairathukku muthazhagu(current is cute for the wire bank is cute for Vaigai river bellybutton is cute for the belly and diamond is cute for pearl)
Here, the 'Vaigai' line is important - so that old fashioned, conventional guys are satisfied that you are not Picasso-like modernist when it comes to crafting verses. And 'vairathukku muthazhagu' is one of those phrases you quietly slip in, hoping that no one would analyze it, because it sounds 'meaningful' and cute itself, even though it doesn't mean a damn thing.


Read the whole thing <here>


joot.

As Ravi reads this article (over and over again), he rubs his hands in glee and just cant wait for April 14 when he is sure to expect explosive ecstacy. There arent better things to do in life than listening to Maestro's works of art when he's at the peak of his powers...

Neways, http://in.news.yahoo.com/050210/54/2jjgy.html

This was a really good interview..I think i totally agree that indians always overstate success and w/o any doubt are over-sensitive..He really speaks like a guru !

Well, its been quite some time since i watched television so much.. the past few days, i was at home most of the time and back to watching 'malcolm in the middle','general hospital(!)' etcetera ! Television can certainly be addictive..At home in the afternoons, eating, watching some sitcom and having a good nap -- nothing to beat it ..3 out of these 4 weekdays was spent like that !!

Finished my day on a high y'day as the lakers finally won 1 on the road..Much more satisfying that they won a thriller..Kobe, plz come back soon. This is getting too close for comfort..

I have listening to music from the movie 'April Mathathil' - maan..super-duper songs some of them..I caNT believe it has taken me so much time to discover this..

Currently listening to -- Manasu rendu (kathal kondein)

Varta

I was talking to a guy y'day about getting F-1 racing to India and especially abt C.Naidu's attempts to get 1 at hyd'bad..I am all for it..I believe it would be a good revenue/job generator.
But the other guy said we should address more pressing issues at hand like poverty and other socialist stuff..Even after i tried to make him understand that the govt is not going to pump in all the money and it could be done in part by FII's for instance.
Talking to pseudo-socialists is tough ! They try to relate everything to social issues, often much more than a proper socialist .

If narain does put on a good show and consequently the viewership ratings in india go really high, i would then tend to think that some good team in f-1 would be asked by the f-1 mgmt to take narain..If narain gets to say BAR Honda next yr, that would be a great thing..I mean, his performance would also improve, being in a better car..Hence, his performance would be critical to F-1 revenues itself..

Kovai kusumboda schumi ku thanni kaaminga vaadhiyaare !

-ravi.

She gave me great hopes,
She gave me sweet dreams when it all began,
She made me hard-working,
Everything about her was so sweet, I was in love with her..

Fast forward 4 months...

She gives me anything but hope,
She gives me nightmares in bed,
She's made me think about fate and luck,
And mate, I anything but love her..



My thesis, although getting disasterous by the day,seems to be making a poet out of me !

All you guys (Esp guys in the US) are going to love me for this gr8 link (Trying to think u guys hv not seen this !!)
http://openscroll.org/ramesh/

Very cool articles..Being a senior grad now(final year la), tending to appreciate it a lot more !

Watched Shaq after a long time toDAY..he looked good w/o doubt..Lakers are in quite some trouble this time, esp after kobe's injury..Lets hope they come back or atleast kobe comes back.

Watched Baba again in the spaCE OF 1 week..Some movies are not meant to be comical but they actually are nothing but that.This 1 fits that bill very well. The main problem i think was that the screenplay was by rajni..(thinking rajni was my favorite at 1 time!!)

JooT..
ravi

Back to the land of honey from Singara Chennai..
1 month went by in a flash and it just feels like I was doing all the Thxgiving shopping y'day !
Madras was really cool..I mean, the climate was warm and sunny..Tht makes it cool..
Had been to Mysore/B'lore, Pondy/Cuddalore and T'pathi..Ofcourse, Mandaveli was infinitely better for me than any of the other places tho !
hmm..Another 2 more yrs before i get back to Kozhambu chaadam with the combo..mmm..Talk abt being spoon-fed !
Any1 who likes reading mystery shudnt miss out on the Da Vinci code..Amzing flow with continued high tempo of suspense/thrill..Dan Brown makes Ludlum look ordinary. Heard there's a movie adaptation of the same.
Back in Knoxville..Back to freaky weather..-12 Degrees sometime last weekend..Too much for a kabaali like me who was lazing in 30 degrees to adapt to suddenly..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/sherlock for all those holmes fans out there..

Varta
rAVi

Kozhambu chaadham with usuli kari and porucha appalaam..If this is not heavenly, what is ??

I am in madras until jan 15..My blogging might be irregular but my hogging will be more than just regular..Immersing myself in ol' friends and movies(but y'day had been to a terrible one - attahasam)..Now that its carnatic season,have attended 4 kutcheries until now including jesudoss.. The city is lively as usual; most of my friends look settled in their jobs..It gives me goosebumps to think that just y'day v were learning about trigonometry in class IX and now suddenly, the past is like a haze, moreso because the present looks very clear. Time flies.

Catching up with relatives and friends is so much fun, though not as much as watching sun t.v (!) and reading dhina malar's take on issues around us ! The nicest thing abt the press here is that they take sides, unlike in other places, so that there is a zing all the time..being mundane is for losers ! Am lovin it.

Finishing up my masters and settling down here is definitely high on my priority list.. Hope it materializes.

~Mandaveli Kapali

Yesterday was a proper weekday.But here's what i did
1.Got up around 2:30
2. Obliged certain biological systems.
3. Ate until 3:30
4.Started watching Oprah(!) at 4.
5. Saw some absolute crap marketing video upto 5:30
6.Slept for a teeny-weeny 1.5 hours.
7. Out of guilt, started studin something at 7
8.Dint last too long..Started watching the Apprentice recap.
9. I thought 9 pm there are no good shows and so will study then..There were no good shows but i still managed to watch 1 (fully) -- Nanny911. (!!!!!!!!!!)
10. Along came raymond; had to oblige.
11. Seinfeld
12. Parts of Jay Leno show.
13. Eat
14. Conan O Brien show
15. Even the Late call with carson daly..

Hows that for an eventful day..I went almost mad finally and had to release my pent-up frustration..Hari obliged..Psyched him inside out.!

That was some day.

-r

Tendulkar has scored just 84 runs in his last five Tests (eight innings) at an average of 10.5.
And Dravid (!) is trying to defend him!

If this guy's name was say, praveen amre or yuvraj singh, he would not have played the last few tests.

I am not a Sachin fan. It is interestingly 'boring' when his fans, as a means of defending him, bring up time and again Sharjah(they get some kick saying 'DESERT STORM' btw), and the chennai innings of 136 ad 98 vs Pak..
Good for you guys, Keep living in the Past.

Happy Thanksgiving guys..
Shopping is not really my 'thing' but had to do some today, atleast for the sake of discounts..Had a ball at JC Penney. The coolest i felt was my Adidas..I love it. I have always wanted an Adidas..When i was back in india, i always was given Nike,Reebok,K-swiss by parents/relatives when they came from the states..Hence, liking for adidas grew! Bored of Nike's swoosh and reebok's vector(is that the name) by now.Hence, adidas, here i come! It seems americans, on an average, spend 900 bux on this shopping spree during thanksgiving..Isn't that something..The most popular stuff was digicams and then clothes and toys..I want to check out toysRus sometime..But jeez, i cant get up at 4Am and stand in the line for coupon discounts maan! I dont want that EXTTTRRRA discount at the cost of my sweet sleep ..
Chill mama..
Then, watched Mr.Deeds (Adam Sandler)..now i know where arunachalam came from..
Watching ambani case with heavy interest..tell u what..only timesofindia can do this kinda masala on such a routine basis..Got to handit over to those folks..stupid stories but keep u hooked..Lalu pitches in with his 2 cents worth..ROTFL @ those filmy connections finally..I think what lalu says is pretty much on the spot..He does assess things well..

Kanchi case - every1 by now thinks something's fishy somewhere..I think JJ arrested jus to get a headstart over MK..o yeah..the elections r approaching..But to do this to some1 who has made some constructive difference(alrite, he may hv done this too ) to society is not 2 cool..what am trying to say is that all of the normal sanyasi gurus, I think, hv always been non-controverisial and hv just done time-honored traditions..To accept all castes of society and make every1 feel part of the same was no mean task, which i believe was done by him, or atleast it happened when he was at the helm..Also, to start so many schools/univ's, eye-clinics,hospitals was definitely some positive contribution to society, rather than just being the routine guru advising ppl..Action sure sounds better..Ofcourse, some of his establishments are run for profit, but atleast they've been set up and are pretty professional..Now, that also seems practical..It really is tough being a celebrity..Just an issue on u could blow up, taking u to new lows..Ofcourse, for any celebrity, its the grp of ppl around him/her that is finally paramount..what they r upto..Thats what i suspect in this case.

Watched ( in horror!) the Vols almost succumb to the guile-less,harmless, nothing less than a run of the mill Vandy team..Phil Fulmer before the game spoke of Vandy highly that I mistook them for the TB Bucaneers..He's such a bore, praising opponents all the time and trying to think its pressurizing them..! I know for a fact, what he would say before the next game..might talk of Kentucky's 'deadly' defense or 'crafty' centers etcetera..
38-33 made me wonder how it would be in Atlanta on Dec 4 against the tigers..i hope its not a rout..
'Amistad' was the week-end movie this time..Spielberg does the same stuff that others do, but finally manages to get his stuff 2 or 3 notches above the rest, somehow..Maybe, he selects his cast to perfection..Hopkins was brilliant, as usual..
Why would a superstar(not just any superstar; the only one) want to have an SIL who has actually given some1 like Murali(Remember that actor..avana paatha road-side gudusai hotel la sambar ootharavan maadhri irupaan!) a superiority complex..Ofcourse, looks arent much..Still, I find it hard to believe it was a smooth affair after all..
BigB looked aghast in the elite company of incomparable KasthuriRaja(Hereafter, Big K...hope he doesnt make superstar to act in his movie!!)

All does not seem to be lost for the seer
Groups across the country are rooting for him, far and near,
But rooting there is, looks several notches down the gear
Hope this doesnt take much of a political turn, but looks like it, O My Dear..

Exams are fast approaching but so is Thanksgiving..The latter gets the priority, for now! Good link for today..
http://phdcomics.com/
Make ur academics fun(not funny..)

Varta

I feel like kicking ass
But no one's showing any, alas..
God, this week is boring
Spent all my time coding,chatting and snoring
I ate Uppma yesterday,pizza today
Both of them dint exactly have my bowels yelling 'hurray!!'
A limerick is supposed to be 5 lines they say
But we live in a world where rules have been thrown to the dogs anyway
Reading about the arrest of the holy guru made me wonder
How the lady always steals the thunder
She is a class apart,may I acknowledge
Much more interesting than other politicians, the IAS officers would pledge..
The world is rotten, the world is getting to be better
Much of what I do is IMHO the reason for the latter
And so as I sign off with utter contempt for anything seemingly senile
It seems to be more difficult for Chennai to get water from the Krishna than the Nile..

rand(thots)

1. Whats wrong with Sachin Tendulkar..giving press meets saying why he's slowed down..Giving such reasons to the press reduces his stature..In any case, even if he's slowed down for the team's cause, it is for the ppl to realize it themselves sooner than later; not sachin telling them y he's done that..
2. Saw 2 movies..'What the bleep' - Using quantum mechanics to explain how v can lead a better life!( not a bad movie.but i gez science junkies will like it more..i was a misfit in the audience for the movie.)..Other movie was Azhagiya theeye..Was waiting for some twist that never came till the end..Mebbe, 'coz of prakashraj, expected a litttle more..
3. Bush back in business..Mebbe, kerry could've nominated some1 from the battleground states for VP..Or atleast some1 who wud've been influential there..It could've been a closer fight.
4. Kanchi acharya arrested..Obviously the police couldnt hv acted w/o jj's consent..Looks like she's slowly moving away from h'va.
5. Hope the UT Vols make the SEC finals..highly unlikely that auburn could be beaten tho..On current form, looks like an Auburn-USC national finals..Other bowl picks - Utah, Longhorns, Sooners(tho they seem to b struggling a bit of late)
6. Grad student, sleeping at home, not going to classes - thats me.
7. Caffeine taking its toll on my biomedical system; and my wallet too..

Laughing my wits out ..U do the same

If this is true, then its not a gr8 thing..Got hold of this at a blog
http://beerchipsandcricket.blogspot.com

Chek it out sometime..

Adios

2 good links for today

First one is a stand-out interview..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/tamil/highlights/story/2004/09/040930_jayainterview.shtml

Excellent drilling by thapar and also some solid resistance by J.j

The next one is absolute fun
http://www.methodshop.com/tech/articles/conan

Hv fun!

Arbit Thots

1. Jay Leno seems to be the weakest of the 3 stand-ups rite now..Hope Conan replaces him sooner..2009 is a long wait!
2. Apprentice sucks big time..Its so stage-managed that it shows very poorly!
3. KamalHassan and Tom Hanks are the 2 greatest actors that i have seen. As to who is better of the two is what is making me tear my hair apart.
4. Ilayaraja has more of a carnatic tinge in most of his compositions than Rahman..Is it because of that that i can listen to Raja's songs over longer periods of time (the freshness doesnt seem to fade) than ARR's...Was it then a coincidence that the best ARR album that i liked was Duet which had a strong classical flavor, thanx to Kadri. I really cannot listen to ARR's songs over long periods of time..Few exceptional songs here n there, but..
5. Debate b/w Bush and Kerry starts today..If am kidding, am expecting something constructive outta it.
6. Cricket is going to be in sometime, confined to just the sub-continent(Massive assumption eh?)..Y dont v create a system like American football, where in u have the game played between american cities/states and are such huge draws..Like v could have between Chennai curry and Mumbai magic or something like that..But for this to be a draw, leave along a huge draw, All the top stars hv to play..obviously indian stars..v could also buy stars from other places..Flintoff could play for Bangalore blues for instance..
7. Usher is one of the biggest things to hv happened to Hip-Hop..I almost listen only to usher when i wish to be cool.
8. Thinkin abt Ayudha ezhuthu, When i listened to the Yakkai thiri number, it sounded like a liberating experience..The video of that number was a sham..It was disgusting, showy and anything but liberating..Mani let me down there.
9. I am thinking of visiting india in december but b4 that, a small halt in Zurich would seal it! Iam thinking of that.

FALL FROM GRACE
Could this be the apt way to describe Sachin Tendulkar's current status..When u have ppl commenting on ur retirement at a time when just 3-4 yrs back, u had ppl talking that u had another 7-8 yrs of greatness ! My thots on this issue further increased after i read an article on rediff today and timesofindia sometime back on sachin's retirement.!
The only thing that stumps me is y did he choose to mature(!) at a time when he can be more free-flowing, now that the support cast(more than a support cast) in the team is as good as it can get. I only hope it was not an externally influenced decision! 1 point..He;s been playing like this for almost 3.5 yrs now.But at teh world cup in 2003, he suddenly exploded and then went back to his own ways again..Y was that? Roger Federer plays well in Grand Slams admitted, but he also plays equally well in other tournaments. Am not too sure any individual would want to perform well in select occasions. Or are there some? Beats me!

Ravi