Questions, Questions and more Questions....Answers please!!!

Why is it that many youngsters (including me) are now talking about the meaning of life, our karma, purpose of existence, philosophy etc etc? Are the present youth slowly moving towards spirituality? Why do so many questions flash in and out of our minds? Is it a transmutation from youth to adulthood?

Religion has always stressed on "Good defeats bad in the end", "You pay for your deeds" and many more. Interestingly, these idealogies are present in Bhagavat Gita, Bible as well as the Quran. The basic life principles are the same in all the religions. Yet , religious leaders fight over trivial matters like the construction of temple v/s mosque in Ayodhya. Yes....I find this very issue very trivial. What are those leaders going to achieve by fighting over this? It only shows the egoistic attitude of who succeeds in the construction. When will the retribution shows towards each other in the name of religion end?

Democracy....one more topic which triggers a lot of questions in me. First question - Is democracy needed in our country? It was set up for a good cause but are we not misusing it? Because of this so-called-gift, we are exercising the freedom of speech, freedom of writing, freedom of everything. No....I'm not trying to conduct a Civics class here. Do we spare a second of thought before throwing that just-finished icecream cup in the middle of the road? Do we dare to Do we throw the same in the centre of our living room? Most probably not, because we would want to keep our house clean OR we are scared of our mummy/wife's scowl. Why do people's minds are so self-centric, their minds cannot think beyond their family,friends and relatives?

What does "India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters" mean to us, the mundane morning pledge in school? If each of us consciously make an effort to inculcate this statement in our minds, how will our country be? Just imagining this makes me feel so delighted. Population is both a boon and a bane to our nation. Man power is the most powerful as well as the most destructive energy source on earth.
How are we going to tackle this population explosion? Wherever you go especially in the cities, it's heavily crowded, which leads to traffic jams, queues and chaos. Population density is increasing at an alarming rate in the metros. Why? Is it because of unemployment in villages? Why do so many people migrate to cities? Reasons could be a better life style, good earning opportunities. Why can't these factors be made available in the villages? I firmly believe that villagers have a much better life style. They are healthy, well-disciplined and peace loving people.

Guess I have prattled much today. Will bombard you with many more questions soon. Whoever reading this article has answers to my questions, I would be glad to hear them. Please post your answers.

Jai Hind.

Anniyan - a superbly executed movie

Shankar's movies had always amazed me, right from Gentleman to Boys. He strives to convey a message to the society, without eliminating the commercial, entertaining aspects. That's what makes his movies so successful.

Anniyan portrays the retribution shown by inveterate disciplined Ambi, the protogonist towards the carefree, take-it-easy attitude of people because of which our country remains backward even after 58 years of independence. With Ambi a.k.a Rules Ramanujan saying "I hate disorder", the story begins at the agraharam in Thiruvallikeni. He faces disorder one after other in his whole day, a bibulous,lazy fellow spitting on Ambi's face while he is driving his bike, an auto driver crossing the yellow line and overtaking people waiting for the signal, a rogue man eve-teasing girls in the bus, an old man being hit by a car and bleeding, yet no one trying to rescue him. He gets furious seeing all such selfish people. He cries out aloud that he is helpless. He goes down to such deep emotions that Anniyan is born.

Killing all those people who take advantage of the society and holes in Indian law in the most violent manner, he brings out a shiver in people's minds, including his hearthrob Nandini, played by girl-next-door image Sada.

Vikram is the show-stealer, no one could have portrayed his character(s) as perfectly as the man himself. He gets a huge round of applause in the final sequences with Prakash Raj, the cop. Sada is just a saada (meaning ordinary) in her not-so-important role. Vivek's comedy provides a good humour to a message oriented film.

A word worth mentioning for the music by Harris Jeyaraj. The first song "Kumari....." mellowed in me with those beautiful locales and a superb rendering by Shankar Mahadevan. I believe this song is the smash hit in the movie. Other songs are fast paced, with lots of English lyrics and doesn't sink in audience's minds. The folk song "randakaa" has been choreographed well and shot amidst greenery and fields.

Somehow I feel Rahman - Shankar combination works pretty well. All the songs , be it Indian,Jeans or Kadalan linger in your minds for a long time. Harris is doing a good job , but can never catch up with his master.

Stunts are amazing, especially when Anniyan fights against those martial arts experts. There are some never-before-seen-in-Tamil-movies kinda stunts which capture the action oriented audience (My hubby, ofcourse!!!).

The director has done a lot of research in MPD(find out the expansion in the movie) and portrayed the hero in a well-defined manner. Hats off to Shankar. He is one director who makes movies once in 2-3 years but succeeds in his attempts always.

My final verdict : Anniyan , a super-duper hit....

Random Ramblings

Finally I have managed to pull my hubby into the world of blogging. Check out his blog here

Rain has always been amazing. I went out of my office to take an auto. The raindrops came pouring, to cool my heated brain. I got drenched and came back to my desk. I feel so fresh now. Just a few minutes back, I felt worn out, just wanted to get back home and sleep. I couldn't believe how a few droplets of rain could have such an enthralling effect.

One of my dreams is to visit Cherrapunji, the place in North Eastern India which receives the highest rainfall. Speaking of dreams, I recently came across an article (forwarded from a colleague) which lists down 127 dreams of a person by name John Goddard. He had formed this list at the age of 15. Now he is 72 and guess what !!! He has accomplished 109 of his dreams. Can you believe it? Some of his dreams are very wild, yet he managed to achieve them. When I go over his article, I feel so positive about life. There is definitely a purpose to our existence and to find that purpose, we need to do a lot of experiments. Lying in our cosy, comfort zones will never take us anywhere.

BTW, I have added this hit counter, to track how many poor souls are taking the pain of reading my words and giving their comments. Keep hitting for more of my random ramblings....................

Proud to be a Harry Potter fan

If only God comes in front of me and asks for a wish, I would say that I want to join Hogwarts and become thick friends of Harry, Ron and Hermione whom I adore a lot. I have never thought that I would become so obsessed with fictional characters. They are portrayed in a more realistic manner by the writer J.K. Rowling.

I entered the Potter arena little later than the other fanatics. I still remember during college days when I used to take seminars, my classmates used to read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone sitting at the back benches. I used to wonder what keeps them so interested than my seminar on microprocessors.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix got released when I was in US. The front page of the local newspaper had this picture of a group of freaky youngsters who looked bizarre with their copy of the new book. I realized that Harry Potter series are not meant for kids.

After coming back from US, I took the Harry Potter books from Karthi and started reading them. They were so gripping that I completed all the 5 books in a matter of 10 days. I can't believe that a person's imagination can go so far, hats off to Rowling.

Some people think that these books are just fictional stories on magic. But I totally deny it. The author has elucidated in many places the importance of friendship - I have never met friends like Harry,Ron and Hermione who are always together, sharing their joys and sorrows, yet completely different in character.

Quoting an instance from Goblet of Fire, towards the end of the book, Harry, Ron and Hermione along with Fred and George are returning back from Hogwarts. Harry has won the Triwizards Tournament and he has got 1000 galleons (money in magical terms). He hands over the money to Fred and George whose ambition is to start a joke shop selling all their inventions. While getting down the train, Harry says "Also get a good pair of clothes to Ron.". Very touching. I almost broke into tears after reading the last few lines of Goblet of Fire. Harry is at his best when Ron and Hermione are by his side.

Hermione is always plunged into books and her favourite hang out spot is the Hogwarts library. She gives the needed theoretical support to Harry. Ron on the other hand comes from a poor family. He is good at wizard chess and gives the moral support to Harry.

These three little kids are brave and clever. They don't follow the school rules, especially Harry and Ron. They always face challenges but with their friendship and witty minds, they always succeed.

I love the HP movies as well. Though not as elaborate as the books, they are well made, Prisoner of Azkaban in particular. I don't mind watching them over and over again.

All said and done.....I can't wait for the sixth book Half Blood Prince. It's gonna be a one helluva experience. Counting days for July 16th.....