Is it black because of rain or smoke???

It’s raining since the day break. I opened my eyes to stop my alarm. Wished it was a holiday for me too. I wanted to sleep all day. In fact I sent an sms to friend Arunsri asking her whether it was a holiday. She said, “ I don’t think so”. She also sent me the shocking news of some terrorist attack in Mumbai and asked me to check the news. I got up from bed in this shock. Just like in a horror movie electricity came all on a sudden as I read the msg. There was a frequent power cut late night due to heavy rain. I asked my dad to switch on the TV and started searching the news channels. I really don’t watch news so I literally had to search. I just catch up with the headlines. I have a very poor memory. I don’t remember any names or places or dates or figures. They don’t stay in my mind. I am a visual person. I can easily visualize things. So I always remember the incidents. They are like reading a story in a book. Whenever I try to recall about some event they come to my mind as montages. Whether it’s an historic event or something on personal life…stays in my mind only because of this nature. Other stuffs just fade off from my memory...
Today as soon as I switched on the TV, I saw the beautiful, magnificent Taj Palace smoking. I still remember the day my classmates planned to take up the last boat from elephanta caves in Mumbai just to see Gateway and Taj in night and in lights.

It was so shocking. Next thing that came into my mind was my friends living there. I called everyone and confirmed that they are safe. They were all at home or in office. Relaxed…I started to get ready for office. It had rained all night in Chennai. The roads were flooded. I didn’t want to take leave also. On the way I heard the news updates in radio.

The office was almost empty. Everyone started coming in only around 11.30 due to heavy rain they all had struck in traffic or their vehicle had stopped because of water. I was not ok. Something was disturbing me. I didn’t know what. I thought may be the shock early morning was the reason. I was not able to concentrate. I opened all the news channels on my desktop and kept reading about the attack and updates. After lunch I found everyone was too engrossed in their own work. Nobody bothered to know what’s happening. No one spoke about the attack or even the rain. They had bug to be checked out, they had issues with connecting to the database, and they were waiting for a client mail to proceed on work. This attitude is even more shocking. Just half an hour back my friend Arun found out that Hexaware Mumbai has also closed down only the corporate marketing team was working.

People are too busy. May be they had watched everything in TV today morning and forgot about it on the way to office. May be that is the idle way of life to lead for any common man. As a media student any crisis we are always on full swing to find out information. We have had arguments, ideas and solutions on all crisis at college. I had grown discussing it in detail. This looks very different for me. May be that’s why I felt odd all day at office. May be they are leading an IDEAL life and I stand somewhere in between not knowing where to jump in…whether I should also be cool or I should do something. If I am not going do something on my own, I will surely play my role at least to change make some difference. This doesn’t mean that you have to jump in and help people. Just do your duty and work for the nation.
In that case you need not worry too much about Obama becoming President of US. It wont affect your bread and butter. Rather you will start worrying about the brothers and sisters who are killed right here in Mumbai for no reason. Everyone wants to sit and comment on police or politicians for being careless and irresponsible. What have you done to nation? What have you done to change yourself?

I do know you alone can’t change everything in front of u. but obviously you can be the change what you want to see. Wish and hope they solve the crisis soon.

Whatever Happens Life has to MOVE ON……

This word MOVE ON is personally too painful for me... I hate it…. I dont want to hear it again in my life…till my last breath. Vaaranam Aayiraam also insists the same.

I always prefer watching a movie with an open mind. Like a clean black board. May be that’s why I always wanted to rush to a movie soon after it releases. I don’t read any reviews before watching the movie and also before writing the blog. Before I went for this movie I heard only two comments from many people. They said,’ I liked the movie’ and ‘I don’t like the movie’.

Vaaranam Aayiraam simply says whatever happens life has to move… This is a movie about a son who gets inspired by his dad at every stage in his life. The story is narrated by son surya. We actually see his stages in life and how the father surya supported him at each stage. I felt the bond between father and son was not established that deep. Son had in particular grabbed his father’s love story as a greatest inspiration. Importance is given to the son surya, his love, his failure, his difficulties, his expectations, and his disappointments in life.

All most all the songs were with Sameera Reddy. She looks good in jean than in salwar. My friend Arun also said Gautham’s touch was seen only in the scenes taken in United States. I also felt he was right. Simren though she plays a small role she is as always the best... Divya comes just for the sake of having a heroine.

Army scenes and scenes in which Surya goes in search of the kid is fast and Gautham has carved his niche for it as usual.

Brilliant cinematography… The cinematographer Rathinavel has captured beautiful shot in each and every frame... Either its Kashmir or US or even LIC building it was cool. Music by Harris was kind of ok... You feel you had heard some tunes somewhere in his own composition. Still you don’t feel bored. Lyrics by Thamarai was mindblowing I had only heard words like andadi, tharagai and lot more only in tamil literature. She has really given a feast to tamil lovers as always.

Editing… I still don’t believe it was antony who edited the movie. I am a big fan of him. Still at some places I don’t like his fast cuts. If you see a song you can straight away tell that it was edited by him. This movie doesn’t give a feel that it was edited by Anthony himself. You never felt that the movie was edited. All the best for ur directorial debut too Anthony sir.

Vaaranam Aayiraam is a life story of a person. Gautham’s personal story. Surya has taken over the movie completely. It is his own film. Gautham could have avoided English dialogues and too much of daddy in it... It gave an Anglo Indian feel for me.



Though it had many problems and people didn’t like it much. Technically the movie was mind-blowing. For instance, you can actually feel the difference in both the father and son’s physique. If you had noticed keenly you could feel the father is losing his strength and he also loses his weight and looks terribly weak on his death bed… Body language actually showed the difference... The movie is scripted and planned perfectly by Gautham... Bravo…. I really understand how much of home work the movie had taken. If he even misses to take a single shot it would have been a big problem… Continuity, set, co artist placement were all in proper place especially when both the surya come in the same frame… It made me awe mainly because both the characters would have been shot at different periods to match the physiques… We really have to say Hats off for the work and involvement by the crew as such.

I personally found a few messages in the movie. I don’t know how far others understood.

Whatever happens life has to MOVE ON

Love like mad

Do the craziest stuff in the world

Express yourself clearly

Work hard

Whatever you do, give ur hundred percent

Enjoy every moment in your life.

Don’t hurt others

Respect the next person’s feelings

Be sincere

And what not to……… You can also add points to the list…….

Strangely Intimate….

My colleague Prasanna borrowed a magazine from library. While reading it, I just came across an interesting article. I thought I should type down my thoughts on it. This article is about a women’s personal experience on her love towards her husband. I don’t want to talk about her. But I just wanted to share the crux of the article.

We may not be able to find a life partner with similar thoughts, likes etc. This generation is facing a war between love and arranged marriage. In both we don’t find our partner having similar thoughts in each and everything in life. We can surely learn to love those differences. He may not dance with you, he may not get beautiful flowers for u, he may not be romantic or she may not enjoy watching cricket with u, she may not cook your favorite food deliciously, she may not stop complaining about your mom. Still you patiently listen to her. Still she silently waits for you at door for u to return back from work.

Despite all these differences and clashes you still love each other. Just stop searching yourself within the other…trying to change them the way you like…wanting them to understand what you wish. Because you are gonna fail trying to change. Even if they change, it is just temporary or nam ke vaaste just to pose in front of you. Behind you they continue to remain the same. Instead of forcing yourself to change for others or changing others for you, learn to enjoy the differences. Enjoy the fights. Enjoy the tears. Enjoy the laugh. Only then you are unique, you don’t loose yourself.

Generations back our mothers or our grandmothers sacrificed themselves, their desires to satisfy their husbands need some times in other way around. But now we don’t want to give away our desires and dreams. Everyone wants to fly.

In tamil literature there is a beautiful word called oodaal. Oodaal is anger between the couple which will be solved at any moment. Oodaal is due to love on each other. Fight is something which can’t be solved.

So oodaal is a must in a love and not fight. Oodaal strengthens the bond and fight creates a crack. These cracks don’t join perfectly once it’s broken.

Marriage or love is a three legged race. We have one of our legs tied together and one free. With the one free we must explore our individuality, our uniqueness. And with the one tied together we must realize what intimacy is. To win the race, we need to balance both – our separateness and our togetherness.

We would be happy if we are able to understand individual desires and dreams. Thus we can avoid unnecessary fights and heart breaks. Live and let live. Because most of the problems comes from not wanting to see things as they are.

This not only works for couples but also to any relation existing in this world who is close to your heart.