Ninaivugal...Thoughts

Back in India , every evening, I was wafted into a sea of devotion, thanks to MSS , whose enchanting voice rendered the complicated slokas of Sanskrit in perfect clarity. The pristine voice filled the surroundings with a sense of calmness and everlasting composure. But, there were many a times, when my brother and I wanted to change the evening atmosphere at home, by replacing the usage of the only tape recorder with the latest happenings on the television. So, on many days, we have watched the only sport that the whole of India supports, and on many other, we would end up watching one of the latest movies being played on many different channels. "Praveen, today is a very auspicious day. Why don't you both play some devotional songs on the tape recorder?" Even before I could open my mouth, my brother would let out a cry of anguish as if she had just asked us to go to war, "No, let the movie finish. We are watching Alai Pay uthey." She would agree relucta...

Ashutosh Gowariker , when he decided to make a magnum opus on one of Indian history's significant and finest characters, would have had a tough time to take up the challenging task of bringing out the appropriate fusion of fact and fiction. History is a daunting subject, the moment you decide to merge it with the present, there are people - those who know history and those who have no idea about what happened five hundred years ago , are literally baying for your blood for an unknown reason. There is little wonder that Ashutosh researched on his pet project for more than four years before getting down to the basic aspect of film making. It would have been easy for him to give up and proceed with the same old cliched subject of hero romancing heroine set in contemporary times. But, he stuck on to what he had set out for, getting the right people to do what he wanted, and in the end, he has come out with an outstanding movie of monumental grandeur transcending all possible imagin...

Life is composed of many simple things, and the pleasure of spending time on them takes you to an unexplainable high. Sometimes, on the spur of the moment, you envision something out of the blue, and you realize that you have to do it at that instant. I have this tendency to visit these online shopping sites often - Amazon , Barnes and Noble , and Borders , and try to catch up with the latest offerings in the book world. So, last week, as I was casually browsing through B & N, I happened to see the Scrabble Deluxe Edition game advertised on the main page at half the normal price. Word games are fun to play, and Scrabble, according to me, is one of the best word games ever. As soon as the nicely displayed advertisement caught my eye, there was no looking back. I did not even think twice in deciding to buy it. Again, this was a decision based purely on instinct, just like many other things that I have done throughout. I gloated over my new found acquisition in front of who e...

I've been out of reckoning with the blog world for quite some time now. Last month was pretty much busy with a lot of things rammed into my head, and my focus could just not shift away from some of the important priorities. At every stage in life, it is so important to realize what is important. In the vagaries of life, it is easy to lose what you have been searching for all your life. But then, I have been inculcated with the typical Indian middle class values, so it is not easy to lose track of the fact that one wrong move can hurt you and everyone around you. So, people around you look upon you to make the decisions, let alone the right ones. Dedication, deference, sincerity, hard work, merit and the typical adjectives used by fathers and mothers drive home a sense of responsibility just too difficult to get away from. My father, right from my school days has tried to convey a simple point It is not the will to win, but it is the will to prepare to win that is important. ...