Search This Blog

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Mobile Killers

I can understand when a car driver tries to use his mobile. He sits inside a closed unit happily and is not impacted by the chaos around him and so he is tempted to attend the call or make calls. But how come a guy riding a bike feels like using his mobile? That too I can understand if he uses it when the road is empty with no body in sight then you will be tempted to use the mobile as there are no inconveninces.

But what I see daily is in the Madipakkam road where the road is dug for baathala saakadai and which is no more a road people use their mobile. Because of this drainage work the road always has endless traffic jams and the rain for the past few days has increased the problem but when people are undergoing this agony I see guys balancing the bike and using their mobile, checking SMS etc.

The problem is these idiots ride the bike in zig zag way completely unaware of others behind him and they will someone who is riding carefully to fall into the baathala saakadai pit dug all around.

These morons should be hanged without trial.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Sivaji - My view

This is my view (review) of the magnum opus Sivaji.

This was one movie for which we longed more to see it on the screen and everyday we were looking for bits of information about this movie. When few stills of the movie leaked some months ago it increased our expectation of the movie. Finally the wait was over and we got the chance to see The Boss in the screen.

With such tremendous expectations there was always a chance to fail but the first half of the movie made me sit in the edge of the seat. I enjoyed the first half.

The first half was full of a different kind of Rajni. A innocent, soft Rajni. The comical moments did invoke laugh. The whole episode of Pazhagalam vaanga and Fair & Lovely was hilarious. Shankar sets the stage to showcase a Rajni with Vengence in the second half. The scenes how Rajni loses the battle with the corrupt system was brought out very well. So just before the Interval when we see the Singam in the 1 Re coin we get the same goosebumps we got when we saw Rajni utter "Ulle po" in Baasha.

Now the second half opens and we find that Shankar shoves away logic and all things go Sivaji's way. In the first half Shankar shows the reality and in the second half the movie becomes a typical Rajni movie and Rajni wins handsdown.

The highlight of the movie is Rajni he has been shown in the best way. The songs Style and Adhiradi are the pick of the lot the Adhiradi was awesome.

We could see Rajni's age in few scenes during fights especially. But for a man aged 57 we can discount it. Shreya looks good and emotes well too.

Some other interesting episodes are the Music shop fight, Office room and Mottai Rajni.

My final take on the movie is a movie which should have come out differently because of Shankar - Rajni combination ends up as a usual Rajni movie (atleast the second half).

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Madurai - Part 3

Madurai Part 1 Madurai Part 2

After visiting the Mahal we bought cucumber, pineapple, mango all sprinkled with salt and chilli powder and ate them on the way to Meenakshi Temple. We walked through "Therku Maasi Veedhi" which was a busy street with market. It had lot of provision stores with lorries loading and unloading stuffs. Atlast we reached the temple. A traffic constable was shouting in mike and clearing the traffic near the temple. The entrance to the temple was sorrounded by people selling coconuts and flowers.

One person from such shop targeted us and asked us to leave our footwear in his shop. Only then I realised that we are supposed to leave our footwear outside. There were few dedicated places to put our footwear so we ignored the shopkeeper and left our footwear in one such dedicated place. We walked into the temple which again had lot of shops selling religious items. My sole was hurting as I was not used to walk bare foot.

Then we reached the theppakulam inside the temple it was a beautiful sight. The we searched for the special Meenakshi temple. They charged Rs 20 per head for special darshan. The entrance announced only Hindu's are allowed beyond that point. The queue was long. The place had some light but no air. Atlast we came out and headed for shivan temple which was near by. All this while my foot was hurting badly. For shivan temple another Rs 20 per head.

Inside the temple we searched for the "Aayiram kaal mandapam" and found it. Inside the mandapan we searched for the musical pillars. We knocked almost all the pillars and finally found them in one corner barricaded. We have to give some amount to the guy who is around there to hear the sounds. He decided otherwise and left.

Finally we came out of the temple and located a restuarant named Harish which announced it was an A/C resturant. Only after going insider we realised he used only air coolers. After lunch we asked for the best theater around and got the reply as Cinepriya. We took an auto to that theater hoping it will have A/C. After buying the tickets for the movie Naan Avanillai at Rs 30 per head we realised the A/C was not working. The fans werent switched on either.

After sometime they switched on the fans. The movie was ok movie but I slept through the last part of the movie.

Then we headed back to thiruparangundram. After a brief rest we went for the reception which was held in a grand manner.

In the morning we attended the wedding the took off to Madurai station to catch the 11 AM Koodal express.

Here are some more snaps.



Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Raj Bhavan

Because of another moronic driver's act a newly married couple lost their life near Raj Bhavan. They were just married for 45 days and when they were travelling in their two wheeler, they were knocked down by a Van. Both died. The bastard driver fled the scene. Unecassarily two live's lost. Raj Bhavan road is one road which I frequent a lot. Now after some traffic changes the stretch has become a nightmare. All signals are removed and people just travel like psycho's.

Last night when I was waiting at thiruvanmiyur signal near the median, there was a Qualis before me. There was some gap between the median and the qualis. I didnt squeeze through it because all SUV's are vehicles of death master and they will react without brain. But for all death masters there are challengers, one guy behind me in a bike honked a lot. I turned back to see how pretty his face was and then just stood there. The guy kept honking, he wanted me to squeeze through gap. I turned back he gestured me to move on. The maximum the guy can go beyond the qualis is 1 meter. I replied "koncham porumaya than irungalen". For that he showed face and settled. He must have called me a "Bastard" in his mind. Since he had some decency he didnt disturb me further but if it had been some uncultured moron definitley he would have "kalauthulaye potrupan".

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Madurai - Part 2

I will put this post in English, typing in Tamil takes lots of time.

After freshening up at the Lodge we had breakfast in a hotel. The first Ulundu vadai was awesome so I ordered another one which was a damp squib. We found out how to reach Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal and walked to the bustop. The place is full small shops which says "Anything for Rs 20". People are seen hurrying for Murugan Temple with Garlands and special packages in hand. After seeing the crowd in one bus we opted for Auto. Autos here does not have meters fitted.

We reached Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal and trust me there were just few locals taking rest under the trees. There was absolutely no crowd at all. We bought the tickets 10 Rs per Adult and 30 Rs for Camera. Once inside the enormity of the mahal struck us. It could definitely compete with some of the architectures in Europe but sadly its left to ruins. In few years nothing will be left to maintain.

The mahal is poorly maintained and is used as a godown for unwanted materials. If you walk with your eyes concentrating on the cieling (which has some good architecture) you will fall into one of the many pits dug.

Everywhere I found notices saying "Please dont write on the pillars" and without fail each pillar contained thousands of handwritings with some heart symbols.

The mahal is enormous in size it has a museum and the contents of the museum can definitly compete with British museum or New york Museum but our govt maintains it so bad that the whole musuem can be put inside a museum. If the same content was available with some other country this place would have become a hot tourist destination.

With a sad heart and anger over the govts attitude we finally came out of the mahal. Outside we had sliced mango, cucumber and pineapple with chilli powder. What a taste.

From there we enquired the way for Meenakshi Amman temple and started our walk.

Rest in next post. Here are some snaps of the mahal.





Monday, June 11, 2007

Madurai - Thiruparangundram

இந்த வாரம் ஒரு நண்பருடைய திருமணத்திற்காக மதுரை வரை சென்று வந்தேன். திருமணம் திருப்பரங்குன்றத்தில் ஒழுங்கு செய்ய பட்டு இருந்தது. வெள்ளி மாலை அனைவரும் கிளம்பினோம் எப்பொழுதும் போல் இரயில் பயணம் இனிதாக இருந்தது. காலை ஏழு மணிக்கு மதுரை சென்றோம். மதுரை செல்வது இதுவே முதல் முறை. சிலரின் அறிவுறை படி திருப்பரங்குன்றத்திற்கு பஸ் பிடித்தோம். சாலைகள் சென்னையை போல் பெரிதாக இல்லாவிட்டாலும் நெருக்கடி குறைவாக இருந்தது.

கடைசியாக திருப்பரங்குன்றத்தில் இறங்கினோம். சிறு வயதில் இருந்தே இப்படி தூரத்தில் உள்ள இடங்களை சிற்றிப்பார்க்க வேண்டும் என்ற ஆர்வம் உண்டு. திருப்பரங்குன்றம் அந்த காலை வேளையில் அந்த சிறிய கிராமத்திற்கே உரிய சுறுசுறுப்போடு இருந்தது. இங்கே உள்ள முருகன் கோயில் மிகவும் பிரசித்தி பெற்றது ஆகையால் எங் திரும்பினும் ஒரு பக்தி மயம்.

பேருந்து நிலையத்தின் அருகே ஒரு அழகான பூங்கா. சிரிது தள்ளி ஒரு அழகான இரயில் நிலையம். மனிதனால் இயக்கப்படும் இரயில் கேட். வித்தியாசமான நிறங்களில் பேருந்துகள். ஓரு அவசரம் இல்லாத இயக்கம்.

மெதுவாக நடந்து சென்று 1 கி மீ துலைவில் இருந்த விடுதியை கண்டுபிடித்தோம். விடுதி ஆஹா ஒஹோ என்று இல்லாவிட்டாலும் கச்சிதமாக இருந்தது. எங்கள் அரையில் இருந்து குன்று மிகவும் அருமையாக தெரிந்தது. அந்த படம் கீழே கொடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

அடுத்த பதிவில் மீதியை தொடர்கிறேன்.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

பல்லவன்

என்னுடைய முந்தைய பதிவில் சில காட்டுமிராண்டி ஒட்டுனர்களை பற்றி எழுதியிருந்தேன். அடுத்த நாளே ஒரு சென்னை பஸ் ஓட்டுனர் தன் காட்டுமிராண்டித்தனத்தினால் சிக்னலில் ஒழுங்காக நின்று கொண்டிருந்த ஒரு மனிதனை இடித்து கொன்று போட்டார். இப்படிப்பட்ட உருப்படாத பல ஒட்டுனர்களால் பல அப்பாவி உயிர்கள் இந்த ஊரில் பலியாகி கொண்டு இருக்கின்றன.

இந்த காட்டுமிராண்டித்தனம் இதில் மட்டும் இல்லாமல் எல்லா விஷயங்களிலும் வியாபித்து உள்ளது. அயல் நாடுகளில் விதிகளை மீறுபவர்கள் இல்லையா என்ற கேள்விக்கு, அங்கேயும் விதிகளை மீறுபவர்கள் இருக்கிறார்கள் ஆனால் அவர்களின் சதவீதம் மிகவும் குறைவு. அங்கே சராசரி மனிதன் விதியை மீறுவதில்லை, கிறுக்குபிடித்தவனே மீறுவான். ஆனால் இங்கேயோ சராசரிமனிதனில் இருந்து அனைவரும் மீருகிறார்கள். ஒரு பயம் இல்லை. இதற்கு ந்மது அரசியல்வாதிகளும், போலீஸும் சப்போர்ட் வேறு.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Bastard Drivers

A kid who went to school after the school reopened after vacations and the kids Dad died on the spot when a van driven by one those bastardly drivers(chennai is full of them) hit their cycle. The van went all the way to extreme right to take their life.

Chennai drivers have lost all the patience. When going in roads with no median (chennai is full of such roads) drivers who are going in one direction with the only aim of overtaking occupy almost the entire road leaving no room for drivers going in other direction. Dont worry about people going in other direction as they will do the same the moment they see some space on the right.

Where the hell are these morons hurrying? Pulsar idiots overtake us at 100 Km/hr in a road full of potholes and immediatly take a left turn or right turn. ? Idiots dont they have patience? Where the fcuk are they hurrying? They will be hurrying to meet a stupid friend of theirs in a near by tea shop to discuss about Namitha's structure. In that they disturb those who are riding in peace.

If given the power the first rule to be implemented is to shoot down any B**tard who tries to violate even the silliest traffic rule.

Because of these guys a ride which should have been peaceful becomes a tiresome journey to hell.

DMK govt has started playing with the helmet rule. Women and children pillion riders need not wear helmets. What? Does women and children have stronger heads? The helmet has become a object of mockery. If you follow the traffic rules helmets are not needed. But with the rule violating bastards occupying each and every corner of chennai even an iron helmet cant save a victim.

A Simple Plan and Just Mercy