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Friday, July 28, 2006

Art of Exchange

Few days back when I was walking along the famous Renganathan Street, T.Nagar I saw people scurrying past the road holding onto some stuff or other in their hand. The stuffs were from old age broomstick to groceries to toys to whatever one can imagine. The stuffs which didn’t belong to them few minutes back now belonged to them. The way they hold on to the stuffs that they have bought using Money conveys a definite meaning to onlookers.
"Hey this stuff is mine. Don’t even think about touching it"
In the above sentence the word "mine" is very powerful. This is responsible for most if not all the problems in the world.
"This is mine" tell this aloud you will get a weird good feeling.
By exchanging few papers they buy stuffs which were not created by them, which they could never imagine to create. The greatest process man has created in my view is the art of exchange.
If we sit on a time machine and go back to the days of Adam and Eve, it is difficult to contemplate if they would have had the feeling "mine" also it is difficult to comprehend that they would be familiar with the art of exchange. If Adam got an apple Eve can get two because things were in abundance. And most important of all they never had any great requirement other than what they needed to survive. Everything that was there belonged to them. They would not have felt to own anything as there was no one else to own them. There is a small chance that among Adam and Even they would have had the "this is mine" feeling but it wouldn't have been as predominant as it is today.

But as times changed Ram was capable of creating X. Shyam was capable of creating Y. But Ram wanted Y and Shyam wanted X so there came the concept of exchange.
Things were exchanged to get other things. Rice was exchanged to get wheat. Though this is still practised worldwide, Money plays major role in most of the transactions.
Man has evolved the concept of exchange beautifully with the invention of "Money". He has been successful in making "Money" as the universal transaction medium. He has been successful in giving specific value to different denominations on Money, different value to different currencies.
Imagine how much effort and thought should have gone through this before we have the system we have now. And most important of the entire whole world should accept it. In a society where it is difficult to convince our peer about our proposed solution it is definitely a T-Rex effort.
When I was a child when people used to say America is the richest country I used to think why India doesn’t print enough money so that India can also become rich. That’s the knowledge I had about Money and till now the concept of GDP is beyond the reach of my small brain.
Man values each service or product in terms of money. All human effort is valued in terms of money.
To dig a pit it is X amount. To draw a painting it will cost Y amount. To develop software it will cost Z amount.
If we compare the activities it is difficult to understand how the equivalent money values were arrived because there are infinite numbers of things that can govern the final value for any work. But still Man has achieved it. Whether the end result is right or wrong we don’t know.

But are we ready to start from the scratch? No way, we have more important things to take care of.

From the protests that happen whenever a WTO meeting is organised, from the sight of posh bungalows and ugly slums we can understand there is something wrong somewhere. But we leave the problems to the big guys to find a solution. We carry on with our mundane work.
The next time when you pay to get a service or buy a product just remember you are actually in the core of a very complex process web which drives the whole world.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Good Old Days 1

From Rani comics I moved on to Muthu Comics and Lion Comics. There used to be a character called Spider (i am not sure of the name). Also the famous "irumbu kai maayavi". This guy has on had made of iron. Whenever he touches electricity with that hand he will become invisible. It will last only for few hours.

The books also used contained lot of funny cartoons such as archie etc.

Parallely Ambulimama, Balamithra, Poonthalir also used to take up most of my time. The stories which revolved around jungles, kings, prohits they are unforgetable. The pictures for those stories made an everlasting impact.

Very late I came across Siruvar Malar from Dina Malar. That also had very good content. I used to like 'pala muga manan Joe'.

These are books which gave images to our imagination. Someway or other our thoughts were definitley redifned.

I did come across few russian books which also were a good read.

At a very later stage I was introduced to Tinkle. I can keep reading tinkle for hours. I can read the same book again and again.

The characters from Tinkle are unforgettable such as Shikari Shambu, Suppandi, Kalia, Kapish, the bad Sigal, the bad tiger, the bad crocodile, Dopaya. All of those caharacters are no more just cartoon characters they are alive in someway.

Those were the days we never thought a 24 hours cartoon channel was a possibility.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Good Old Days 1


I thought of writing a series called Good Old days where I will remember things from the past.

Thought of writing about Tamil comics of the old days (old days here refer to my childhood days for some it may not be that old but for some it may seem too old).

I remember buying my own tamil comic book by Rani comics in 1985 May in Dharavi (yes in Mumbai which was then Bombay). I was in Bombay visiting my aunt and happend to see the comic hanging in a shop. The name i vaguely remember it as "Irumbu Manithan".

From then on there was no stop. I became a fan of Rani comics and started buying all subsequent versions of it.

I used to buy it from the near by magazine shop which was at Palavanthangal Railway station. I think the comic was a monthly. I used to wait eagerly to get the book in hand. Oh how it felt to hold the new copy in hand with its shiny cover. There used to be red indians stories, james bond stories, mayavi and a lot more.

There was also a "pei thodar kathai" in that book which was without any pictures. Dont remember the name of it. I guess it was called "Pei Veedu" or something.

It used to be fun. Luckily my parents never hesitated to buy those comics.

to Continue...

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Time

All of them entered into the room and took their seats. This was the only room available for their meeting in the campus sprawling acres. After walking through corridors which resembled a maze they found the room. The first thing Siva Rajesh noted as he entered the room was there was no source for natural light into that room. Someone switched on the lights and a dim white light filled the entire room. On three sides Siva Rajesh saw that he was covered by walls without windows and on one side there was a glass door which had a dark corridor beyond.

“Hello Guys, lets start our team meeting. The first thing on the agenda is updating status. Can everyone update the status of your work?”

The leader of his team started the meeting.

Everybody started telling that X is pending and Y is completed and Siva Rajesh did his part.

“Next Joshua Peethambaram will give a presentation on the latest technology called Palmistry”

“What the hell is that?” Siva Rajesh thought.

The guy who joined the team very recently got up from his seat and went to the white board.

The leader settled in his chair comfortably. Siva Rajesh knew all this new technology is only for the people who are at the lower end of the ladder. The leader will go into his dream world for the next 30 minutes. And he knew very well that the leader will expect everyone to be Palmistry gurus after this 30 minutes session.

Joshua Peethambaram in an aim to get into the good books of the leader started talking animatedly waving his arms in the air.

Siva Rajesh decided Palmistry is not for him and he started gazing at each one. His eyes rested on Rupali. She had her arms folded and was looking keenly at Joshua Peethambaram. He saw that she has applied Pink nail polish. She had long nails which looked beautiful. “I think she has a crush on me”. He then moved to the next person and finally rested his eyes on Valarpirai. “Wow look at her hair. The way it flows into her shoulder it’s a poem”.

He debated within himself who is better Valarpirai or Rupali.

Suddenly he felt the room was caving on to him. He saw Joshua Peethambram waving hands in air and talking but no voice came. He saw the walls of the room have suddenly become closer. Rupali had her head now in an angle and he felt pain in his neck.

“Please straighten up your head Rupali. Looking at you having your neck bent like that is painful to me”

He saw Valarpirai she was slowly rocking in her chair. She is just shaking her legs to some tune which she is singing in her mind and swaying her torso.

He couldn’t find if his team leader was asleep or awake as he had his glasses on. All he could see was reflections in his team leaders glasses.

“Stop it Joshua or Peethambram whoever you are. Nobody cares about this stupid Palmistry”

He loosened his tie. He felt suffocating. “God, is the air conditioner working?”

He checked his watch. The second’s needle didn’t move. “The battery is weak?” before he could complete his thought it was moving. “Did I have a blackout?“

He could see he was climbing on to the centre table where Valarpirai had her hands rested gracefully. Seeing him she removed her hands. He danced on the table and shouted “This is discostry”.
He got up from his seat and left the room.

Joshua Peethambaram continued as if nothing happened.

The moment he came out of the room the difference in room temperature and the outside temperature made his face cringe.

“What the hell am I doing here?”. He looked around him and saw the huge campus spread around him and saw a lonely crow at the top of a Palm tree cawing in that afternoon heat.

**

“Are you ok Siva Rajesh?” asked Kulfi.

Only Kulfi came to his mind whenever he saw this person.

“No” Siva Rajesh replied.

Kulfi who was expecting “Yes” for an answer panicked for a second and opened his mouth for the next question.

“I am fine” Siva Rajesh replied and closed his eyes.

The din all around him calmed down the moment he close his eyes. He opened his eyes and saw himself inside the bus and the bus travelling. But he noticed some difference which he hadn’t noticed before. He could feel that the bus was not moving. It was static but it was rocking slowly. He looked outside the window and saw the world moving. He saw that only the place was moving and not the bus. “How is this possible? That is against all scientific principles. Leave alone scientific principles its against common sense.

Slowly he could see that he was simply sitting in a chair and around him he could see there was something which resembled a bus and outside the bus the places were moving. It resembled the way they shoot for movies.

He checked the time and it was time the bus reached his stop. He looked outside and saw the familiar street bustling with activity. The bus stopped and he got down and walked to his house.

He saw his brother sitting before the television and his sister painting something.

“Are you hungry?” his mother.

“No I am fine”

He went into the bath. He splashed water on his face. He looked at his palms they looked dry. There was no trace of water. He again took some water in his palms and splashed on his face. Now he saw his palms were wet.

He dried his face and for a moment he found the towel dry with no traces of wetness but the wetness appeared after a few moments.

He snatched the remote from his brother’s hands and switched the channel to watch sports. His brother hated Golf so he left murmuring. He watched the match for sometime. He checked the time and found it was time for dinner and he felt hungry. The hunger was not there until he checked the time.

During dinner a vision of someone floating in space kept flashing in his mind.
He was not hungry one moment and wondered what he was doing with dishes spread before him. One by one everything vanished and there was just him and emptiness.

Another moment he was hungry and devoured the food.

After dinner he sat before the television. His brother has tuned it to a Movie channel.

“I have seen this movie” he tried hard to recollect the name. “Yes. It’s Matrix with its stupid logic”

He went to bed.

**

He was not in his bed. He was just floating. There was nothing to hold him but he remained floating at the same location. But in vast emptiness one can’t be sure about location. He kept floating.

The realisation came onto him. The world around him, the persons around him all was just his imagination. There was no one else other than himself. All others are just his imagination. He felt great about the power of his imagination.

He tried to pinch himself. His hand couldn’t find the other hand. “Where is my other hand?”

“asdaer sadfas erreer asdasf”

“Could it be that I myself don’t exist. If the whole world is an imagination then I could be an imagination as well”

“ghgfj zzhjp poipo”

The vast empty void remained.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Football Frenzy


Now all the hoopla about football has come to an end (has it? don’t know still how many are still carrying these matches in their heart – I know many will) yesterday I thought of putting my feelings about this much sort after sport. Well I would like to go one step above that and wanted to write something about sports in general.

The much awaited world cup 2006 was started with much fanfare. Luckily or unluckily since I was in one of those countries which participated in this cup willingly or unwillingly I was made to witness what was happening around me.

The hype for the game started long-time before the competition actually began. Newspapers didn’t have to worry about what to fill because they had loads and loads to write about the game. It was not only about the game it was about the players and their families as well. Cars had their countries flag planted on to the top. Everybody believed that their country is a potential candidate to lift the cup though they were not the favourites. And I assume here it should have been the case in most of the countries which participated.

A small thought on why do people go crazy behind something’s? It makes them forget all their worries till that something is over. That something can be festivals, functions, competitions etc. I remember forgetting all my worries during Christmas, Deepavali or Pongal and eagerly wait for those festivals. Though I will be worrying about the quarterly exams I will be happy because Deepavali was just round the corner. All the worries magically disappear and they return back the next day after the event is over. Same thing when the cricket world cup is played it will remove from us the fear of exams which happens to fall during the same time period as the competition. The excitement of the game will make the exams light. So people want some escape route and these competitions provide them that.

Now coming back to the craze on football if we ask the question If everybody happy with the result? Does everyone agree that Italy is the world champion? Is everyone convinced that Brazil or Germany does not deserve the world cup because their performance was far below Italy or France?

When the Game started Brazil was the hot favourite with Argentina, Italy, Holland and France following very closely but they were also not able to rule out England, Portugal or whatever country was in the list.

During the middle of the competition they never thought France would make it to the semi-finals but it made it to the final.

If we closely look at most of the matches we can find that there were many occasions in which there were shots which didn’t become goals and shots which weren’t meant to be goals became goals. Matches that should have been drawn were won by either of the team because of those shots.

This proves clearly one thing that football is more like playing a game of poker. Unless otherwise the two teams playing have a huge difference in the so called talent, luck decides who wins.

For example if Brazil takes on India (which is still a toddler) then Brazils talent can help it win the game but if Brazil is taking on a team which knows the knacks of football it is obviously luck that determines who wins the game. But the winning team calls itself as the better team and takes all the credit. And supporters wave their flags and support those self proclaimed champions. It looks like we are witnessing WWF.

Take the case of the finals one guy from France missed a penalty shoot out and Italy is declared the champion there was a 50% chance the match would have gone France’s way also till the last kick was done.

All games carry a factor of luck we can’t deny that but not as much as football carries. Take the case of Tennis which gives the players equal chance to prove themselves.

Finally at the end of the match one team is crying and another team is dancing is this what sports was meant to do? Is this why the human race started playing games? If this happens in any other case the person dancing will be called a psycho.

Games which were invented to relax us are now making us cry and take away the relaxation. People become so obsessed with these games. Media makes the most of it by building up the tempo. Competitions may be necessary to bring out the talent but winning the competition shouldn’t be glorified to such an extent that the spirit of brotherhood is lost.

Look at what Zidane did in his last match. What makes him do that? Is this what we want to bring out of the people who play games?

The guy who missed the goal during the penalty shoot out will carry it in his heart to the grave because the world we live in made that so important in his eyes. But come on it’s just a game and that too football.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Gurubaran

A fake intellectual called Gurubaran

Gurubaran looked excited. He had a brown envelope in his left hand and half a glass of lemon tea in the right hand. He sipped the tea and grazed the letter for the 14th time. you cannot call it a letter also you cannot call it a parcel. The cover had 24 sheets of white paper and only one line of message in the first sheet. The telegraphic message read "One eyed yogi will be arriving on 06-05-06 by Kaveri express from LA. Please receive at Egmore"

Why 24 sheets for a single line message? He also fruitlessly checked for any other encrypted message inside it. He referred to 12th class chemistry guide 'Ganga' and applied citric acid and other sweet smelling agents on all the sheets. Also he had problem in understanding the date. Since the date was just 06-05-06 he was not sure whether he has to use the "dd/mm/yy" or "mm/dd/yy" or "yy/mm/dd" or "yy/dd/mm". Different combinations generated in him different facial contortions and twirl in his stomach.

Also his worries doubled when he started to analyze how can yogi arrive at Egmore when he is actually coming from Los Angeles? And that too by Kaveri Express. Gurubaran was already weak in math, physics and chemistry. He dialed his friend, Giridhar, at Stanmore to explain this situation. Giridhar asked him to use Poisson distribution to find out Yogi's availability on all of the combinations.

Gurubaran thanked Giridhar and continued thinking Why not Tambram which is nearer to my home? Why Egmore?

whether the date is 6th june or 5th June or 6th may? Whether the year is 2005 or 2006?

With mounting curiosity Gurubaran called yogi's secretary Anita.


Anita used American accent mixed with Australian slang. Gurubaran could only say "Yes", "yes", "Oh", "thanks" and finally he told a big lie to Anita that her voice was breaking and before she could respond he switched off his mobile and broke his SIM card.

"How Anita will be looking?" occupied Gurubaran's mind.

Gurubaran opened his laptop and sent a mail to Anita.

He got the following out of office reply from Anita.

"Currently I am accompanying Yogi on his trip to India. For any emergency please contact Gurubaran, our offshore point of contact."

Gurubaran knew the repercussions if he failed to receive Yogi on the stipulated day. He might be asked to address a group of 2000. "Please save me from the nightmare." shouted Gurubaran!

Just then a firm hand pressed Gurubaran's Left shoulder.

"Are you Gurubaran?"


"Yes"

"I am the one eyed yogi", smiled a man with red color cooling glass. Yogi removed his glass extended his right hand for a shake.


"Hello Sir. Don't cheat me. Yogi has one eye closed. For you both eyes looks ok"

Yogi pinched Gurubaran's calf muscle and tickled his funny bone.


I have two eyes and I can use one or both or none.

I am totally confused sir.

Yogi laughed at Gurubaran and asked him to hop in the reverse direction. Gurubaran obeyed.

"Do not think too much. What you may see may not be true. What you think may not be true. That is why you think of all the possibilities. What did you do to the remaining white sheets? Did it not convey the message to you? Keep your mind empty was my message."


"Are you ready?"

Gurubaran stammered "frr..forr...For what?"

"For tomorrow's presentation" said Yogi. You are going to take 1 hour session for retired but angry IIT Civil department professors on Aerial structures.

"Sir...."

Knot - Me, All Else Kowsik (kowsik.ramachandran@gmail.com)

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Fearless - Review


Day - Friday
Time - 3:55 PM

The next day was my anniversary so I thought of going to a movie with my wife. After checking the local newspaper we zeroed in on Jet Li’s “Fearless”.

After buying popcorns (I don’t like popcorn) and coke lime we settled in our seats.
Including us there was only 7 people in the theater and theater itself looked like hall in a 2 BHK apartment.

The advertisements started. I always enjoy the moments before the movie starts whether it be a news reel or advertisements. It is always good to wait for the main show.

Finally movie started with a note that it was a true story of a Chinese fighter Huo Yuanjia. The first scene of the movie starts with the hero (Jet Li playing Huo Yuanjia) in the middle of a competition with four people. Jet Li looks old and looks like he never cared to hide the fact. The opening scene reminded me of the movie Kick Boxer.

The first dialogue was in Chinese. I thought it was an English movie but had to be satisfied with English sub titles. In this DVD era I am now used to watching movies with subtitles tuned on.

Huo Yuanjia knocks off three of the competitors to nothing and the camera zooms in on our his face as they announce about the final competition.

The screen darkens and we are transported to a around 1900s. Huo Yuanjia is a child and his father practices a Chinese martial art. He does not want his son to follow his path. He wants him to become a scholar. But Huo Yuanjia wants to be the champion of Tianjin against his fathers wishes. Huo Yuanjia practices martial art secretly.

Huo Yuanjia watches his father loosing many fights by holding on the last hit on the opponent. This makes him more committed on becoming a champion.

The conversations between the child, the father and the mother of the child all are good and meaningful. The settings as in all Chinese movies transport us into the mysterious Chinese life style.

Huo Yuanjia has a good childhood friend Wong Zinsen who is portrayed as a nerd.

Huo Yuanjia becomes a man and starts winning all the competitions. He concentrates only on fighting and lives life like a wayward. Remember he is yet to be declared the champion of the town as the old champion is still alive.

Seeing Huo Yuanjia many people join with him as his disciple and Huo Yuanjia starts spending money like water. Mean time his childhood friend runs a hotel and advices occasionally to Huo Yuanjia to forget fighting but Huo Yuanjia never listens.

There is also a madman character in the movie resembled a lot like the mad characters in tamil movies.

One day the old champion of the town beats up Huo Yuanjia’s disciple and Huo Yuanjia becomes angry and in a rage he challenges the old champion and a fierce fight happens in his friend’s hotel. The old champion is killed after the fight which triggers intense rivalry and Huo Yuanjia loses his mother and child to that rivalry.

In a fit of rage he kills the old champions grandson who killed his family. He then learns the old champion was right in beating his disciple as the wrong was on his disciples side. He leaves the town for good.

Another tamil movie twist comes here a drifting Huo Yuanjia is met by some village people among whom there is a blind girl. They take care of him and he becomes a part of them. The locations are mystical and beautiful during this part of the picture.

Promising the blind girl that he will return he heads to visit his parents grave. He comes back to the town and finds it full of westerners. The westerners call the Chinese as “weak men of east” as there is no one to challenge their might.

Huo Yuanjia meets his old friend and asks his support to participate in the competition in Shanghai.

The beautiful part is the conversations between Huo Yuanjia and Tanaka one of the Japanese fighters with whom Huo Yuanjia is supposed to fight.

Finally Huo Yuanjia is poisoned to death but did he win the competition with the Japanese is conveyed beautifuly.

One thing I liked about the movie is there are no villans all of them are just normal people who commit mistakes.

Overall it’s a good movie with some human touch.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

First Post

After being an observer of many blogs, i have tried to write my own blog.

Why am i writing this blog - i dont know

But somethings which i wanted to share are

Thoughts on GOD
Thoughts about life
Thoughts about the people who act & look like intellectuals

and whatever will come to my mind at that point of time.

A Simple Plan and Just Mercy