Oru Cup Coffee

Charu Nivedita was interviewed in this week's Vikatan. As expected the interview itself was very spicy. And Charu does deliver with his ferocious punches in his satirical style. He has been writing quite a bit on his site also. I do not agree with everything he says in his site, but I admire his courage on various opinions disclosed. I am not sure his Vikatan interview is published in the paper form as it is available online. I remember that he mentioned in one of his articles earlier that his regular online column was stopped because of its very nature. That is, socially not acceptable. In a nutshell, he thrashes the duality of our political leaders raising issue over dancing in bars, cigarette smoking in Cinemas, etc. Also, the Kushboo episode gets its treatment.

One of the things I did not like about his site was about allowing Gnani to write a review of Thiruvasagam. I could not believe that Charu used Gnani as a critic of music. I've different feelings about the same album and I feel Gnani's was not a critic of the music but turned it as an attack on a celebrity. To use him as a rung in the satirical ladder is pathetic.

Yesterday I fixed my bicycle flat tire. Much to the amazement of my bicyclist friends, I've not had a flat tire since 1996. Not that the bike was unused, but I've clocked few thousand miles over these years. Mostly on paved trails and roads, but sometimes on rugged terrains. Like, half way up Mt. Diablo on fire trail. But no flat tire. Which is very strange when my fellow riders average a flat tire almost once a month. I was counting on this continuous no-flat-tire path and unexpectedly, even for those who get a flat tire a month it is unexpected every time it occurs, my tire went flat. Well, I did not rush to fix it though I'd all the tools. I did not know how to do it. After seeking some advice, I went on to fix it yesterday. Wow, the tools were so simple and amazing. I wish those poor "Vulcanization" specialists on the side walks of Chennai had it this simple. I had anticipated this flat tire in 1996, when I bought my bike, and I got a spare tube. This tube did not work as it had developed crack on one of its many folds. So, I had patch, quick self adhesive ones and it was exactly that way - quick and adhesive.

This may not be as big a challenge to Mohan, my friend in Chennai, who I've seen more often with his bike taken apart than together and riding. He would polish every sprocket, spoke and grease every movable part, almost every weekend. I could not understand why he did this then, but I do now after my successful flat-tire mission. It is a great sense of accomplishment one could feel out of such a simple job. And I did not use a bucket of water, bench vise, glue, nor did my hands have a spot of grease after the job was done. Not that I was so good, but the tools make it so good.

I watched SJ Suryah's a..A tamil movie. I had bad experience with his movie New earlier. I could not sit through New and for anyone who did, I applaud your endurance. Anyway, Sun TV showed a clip of dialogue from the movie. Which in itself was interesting. So, I rented it. I should say that I was plesantly surprised by the movie. Movie is nothing unusual and is not one of a kind like SJ Suryah portrays it to be. The screenplay and the acting has raised the movie from the otherwise mediocre story. I read about this movie that it would've been better without SJ Suryah playing the lead role. I do not think so. He added a distinct color to the movie. Especially with his comic like portrayal of the role. Though he goes overboard with his almost-but-not-there T. Rajendar voice. Also, Nila did her part well also. Could not believe this is her new movie. The exchange between SJ Suryah and Nila, their disagreements and possive nature were all done as natural as it can be, except for the restaurant episode which is half believable. All the songs are good dance numbers though I did not completely like the way they've been picturized. The graphics were unnecessary and I hope Tamil cinema use them sensibly in the movies. It is like I learn photoshop and keep using photoshop for everything. Director Shankar started this phenomenon.

The scenes of intimate moments between SJ Suryah and Nila were not out of place or overdone. But many scenes are muted by the censor. I do not understand how scenes can be visually allowed but not the accompanying dialogues. It was irritating to go through a movie with lots of lip movements but no words coming out of them. SJ Suryah throw another cell phone at them. I think it is worth going to jail for as a director's creativity should not be undermined by some mindless people. Creativity by nature can be absurd, weird and can be beyond the social boundaries. People can rate the output as horrible (like I did for New ) or amazing. I cannot bear myself to watch some other movies that have escaped similar treatment. But that does not mean they should not be out for public humiliation/appreciation. Anway, I'd recommend a..A to a friend, and New to my enemy. And here is an alternate perspective.

I found, albeit late, that I’ve lots of time when I am flying to Seattle every other week. Why I fly is another question? Traveling gives me time for myself and also in real sense keeps me going. The flights I take to Seattle remind me of the trips I took to Trichy from Chennai during my college days. Only that the latter was longer.

Traveling to Trichy was an unique experience. I used go by Rock Fort express and return by KPN bus service. I've very little memory of the train journey, as I slept on almost all of them. Except getting down at Srirangam was a harrowing experience almost every time. The train reaches Srirangam around 4.30 AM, the time I am in my deep sleep on the top berth, oblivious to the arrived destination. I’ve missed getting down few times entailing me to travel back to Srirangam from Trichy junction. My aunt and uncle lived few blocks from Srirangam station and this makes it a big roundtrip to get back to their house. Some other times, I’ve leaped off the moving train almost not being aware of whether I’d be landing on the platform or on the gravel surface between two set of train tracks. Luckily, it had been the former most of the times.

Then I endure walking along the tracks, which I am so used to and miss not being able to do it these days, to the street that awakens slowly to the morning. As my aunt and uncle lived in a apartment complex (called Ondi Kudithanam), which was once a big home with many rooms converted to accommodate many families now, I would not want to disturb them lest waking up the landlords and earn their wrath. Which btw, I’ve done it few times only to remember not repeat it. So, I’d sit on the thinnai of the next house and let my senses bombarded with nearby coffee/tea shop music, wafting idly sambar smell and news pouring out of the radio. I’d still be half asleep, with my body still registering the rocking train motions. I came to know that All India Radio (AIR) broadcasts news in Sanskrit only during my thinnai visits. No one, including the tea shop owner himself, understood the news, but provided the much needed company at the loneliest time of the morning. From listening to the news, it felt like the news reader was running and reading the news at the same time. Such was the panting and the noise that came out of the radio. My uncle would come and rescue me from the morning chill, into his comfortable home for me to return back to proper sleep from my slumber. I cannot forget their hospitality in hosting me for three years of weekends.

After my classes in Trichy, I’d go to Trichy bus stand. It is unlike any other bus stand I’ve ever seen in whole of Tamilnadu. Buses keep coming and going, oblivious to the walking of pedestrians, cycles, scooters and other smaller vehicles in front of them. A small mistake would cause a serious, if not fatal accident, but they all coexisted very well. Like the stars, planets, asteroids and other objects in our space. The food at Trichy bus stand is worth a special mention. There are many so called Bhavans that feed the people on the move near the bus stand. As with other restaurants, there are two distinct areas of in every restaurant air-conditioned and otherwise. As I was making money at that time, I’d choose to sit in the ac area. The unlimited meals was always limited, if you’re to test the limits, though I never was that hungry to venture that far. But I’ve witnessed people eat mountains of rice, with nice crater in the middle for sambar. Such people are kinda scorned upon and never visited by the waiters that serve food. For the sake of courtesy, once in a while, the waiters would drop some rice and sambar on these testing-the-limit’s plates. But otherwise, they would walk past these famished customers, in spite of their antics to get some attention for the next fill. But these customers won’t make it so easy past the pretend strollers. The weak would just fumble and give up, whereas the bold stand up and shout for their fill. Thiscreates dissatisfaction amongst all the customers, as this could only get worse, the manager would typically run to them and try to attend to their needs. The customer will smirk and show to other lesser beings in the restaurant, what we could get if we were to venture his route. It was always interesting to watch this, time and again without getting bored as each situation brings along specific flavors.

I guess I'll write more on this later. There are lots of experiences to share about Trichy.

I am a fan of the blogosphere. I try to read as much from the blogs when time permits. BTW, what is surprising is that Microsoft Word 2003 still does not recognize the word blog. I hate that red underlining. Microsoft is way behind the technology dictionary. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about writing about some of the things I find interesting, appalling and useless. It could be all at the same time also. So, here I go....