Randor Guy;trip down memory lane of madras in movies

I have always liked reading stories and articles of Randor guy.He has something unique, in style and substance.A very unusual pen name and in tamil, guy used to be written as 'kai' and i used to wonder at its significance.I read about his lec-dem in ps high school on 'madras in movies' as part of madras day celebrations.I made a mental note to be there.
It happened i went with three senior citizens. Amma enjoyed it totally, as she was able to recall and recollect the old movies, their clippings and the places they showed.She was also giving her own take on those period movies.She stayed in lakshmipuram, near the present music academy, and could give her own stories about some of the writers, music directors, actors of those times.

Papanasam sivan is easily the author of music in movies and the current day popularity had a significant contribution from him, Randor Guy said.Valli thirumanam, was a run away hit even with one full reel of film, being missing!It had a second run away hit after receiving the missing one!There were no studios in Madras and they used to be processed in Calcutta, Bombay, Pune and Kolhapur.
We listened to several interesting stories and my favourite is this.The first tamil talkie was really not a full length tamil talkie, but a tamil, telugu and hindi mix.The reason is quaint.The director knew that a hindi talkie has happened , in 'alam ara'. He wanted to make a tamil talkie. But had his own misgivings whether the technology is language independent!He wanted to hedge his bets; hence the heroine talked in tamil, the hero in Telugu and other assorted actors in hindi!There was no way they could shoot a shot and play back and check it out!And he wanted atleast some part of the movie to have 'audio' effect!
I will leave some room for amma to post this eve programme in her blog and fill in any interesting trivia!

Monsoon mystery

Yesterday's newspaper had a feature on unusual climate in north eastern India.Remember Cheerapunji, the place with the highest rainfall?That region is reeling under severe heatwave.Severe deficit in rainfall and the summer is still on and temperatures soaring!
The irony is all the more poignant, when we see that Rajasthan has been receiving bountiful rains and that too Barmer region!When I was posted to Rajasthan i used to be told, that Barmer is such a place that does not get a single drop of rain for several years at a stretch.And some children have grown up to young adults, not witnessing what is a rain!The houses in Barmer have an underground compartment which can store water, whenever there is rain and the rainwater is directly fed into it. Some peculiar skin ailments used to be noticed in people from those areas, as they are seen to consume stale water stored in closed environment.
The heavy rains have flooded rivulets which at best could handle a few buckets of water(!) and downstream all the way to the city of Surat.It is hopelessly flooded and severely inundated several cities in Gujarat.
Very mysterious and unexplainable. My colleague told me that a roadside shopwallah said it is god's way of punishing man for tampering so much with nature. Is it really so?

Capricorn libra siblings at the tennis court

Spotted two very tiny kiddos at the tennis court today. The girl must be about 6 and the boy 4ish.He was tiny for a four year old and could be barely seen above the ground, as he was playing 'boxball' with the picker boys.The father appeared to be new; have not seen him around.I could visualise his wife packing off the kids with him, to have some peace and quiet at home. I dont blame her.
But then this boy was picture perfect.A man who knew what he wanted, is what you would think of him some 15 years down the line, i figured. When this kid took a break and was sipping water from the waterbottle, i asked the sister, what is your birthday and thambi's birthday.She said 10th october for the thambi and 11th january for her. It did not make sense, this boy cannot be a Libra.And this girl with a sweeet smile and gentle manners, cannot be a capricorn; no not possible. I asked her, are you sure,to which she immediately giggled and said, no i got it mixed up. That made sense!
Aaron was sitting right in the line of the ball, so a pickerboy told him to move; sir did not move, sat there squat.So he was literally lifted and put in a chair away from the court. He is all along having his eye on his tennis racket and asks for it to be given to him, and also the lid of the water bottle which was lying there!
I saw them leaving a while later.Aaron was walking steadily and sure footed he was, with the racket slung over his shoulder, the proper way.Sharon had the racket dangling from one hand, and soon enough shifted it to another, skipping along to their car.
capricorn and libra a study in contrast.

madras day

Chennai is celebrating "madras day" this entire week.Birthday celebrations for a great big city has to spill over to atleast 7 days. Initially the concept of madras day was vocalised by the local newspaper, Adyar times.Vincent d souza, its editor said 'hey, why not celebrate the spirit of chennai as a community festival. He is passionate about community participation in local festivals and has been a pioneer of sorts in starting his now famous neighbourhood newspaper.
Last two years it has been fairly low key, but this year, i am pleasantly surprised to see that it is occupying significant newspaper space and also AIR waves!Yesterday there were series of programmes in FM Rainbow channel. Planned to tune in, but what with umpteen distractions could not do so. Will definitely be more prepared next year, is this year's resolve.
Muthiah, the historian of chennai is also putting up some public meetings, exhorting students to be interested in this heritage city. City tours of historic spots have been planned.Randor Guy the detective old hand of tamil cinema, is planning a lecdem on Chennai as it appeared in movies.I am planning to be there this saturday in ps high school.
Did read up a few interesting articles about what it means to be a chennaite."Chennaites are a unique species; they would like to have the fan on even when the ac is cooling the room quite efficiently".Touched a chord there!So i am a quintessential Chennaite!

My tiny brush with the typhoon

Our Hongkong trip became memorable because of the slight brush with the typhoon.It is the typhoon season in south china sea, and by extension in hong kong as well. But then when we planned the trip, we took the national holiday at singapore into account, but not these minor matters.But then our guide in hongkong told us, that typhoon never directly strikes hongkong, it usually gets diverted to south China I was reminded of Chennai and the storms going and hitting, ongole and rayalseema and sparing us chennaites, many a time.
On the second day of our stay, typhoon signal 1 was hoisted in the hotel lobby and all train stations. But then everybody went about their business, so we followed suit. The same evening, it was upgraded to signal 3; again no panic or ostensible change in routine life.So we set out for ocean world.When we reached the ticket counter, we were told that the facility is closed today due to bad weather. Then we headed for 'giant buddha'.Boarded bus 23 at Central and were nicely meandering our way up the hill.Half way up we realised that a storm is brewing; the scenery was just out of the world, with the sea, just kissing the road we were taking and the turbulance was palpable; koots said she does not want to look at the sea at all.The other side was the mountainside and greenery all around.We saw the steady and heavy rains and powerful wind, lashing against the bus, but we were cocooned as it were and did not realise the powerful drama that was being played outside.
A little before the destination, we could see the giant buddha rising from the mist as it were.The bus stopped, and we got out. And then, without warning, a giant squall hit us, and we went reeling, literally. Koots instinctively caught on to the railings in the bus shelter and i held on to her.The other passengers took precaution.The wind blew with a giant whistling sound for a few minutes, the roadside shops with tin roofs making a 'percussion orchestra' which we did not enjoy. But then suddenly everbody burst into laughter, as we knew we were witnessing something unique.All of them tourists, could relate this to their grandkids!
Of course there was no question of climbing the steps to giant buddha, or to visit the monastry nearby.We just waited for the bus to come back, and we clambered back to the safely of its interiors.
We just witnessed the tail wind of the typhoon crossing south china sea on to the land at that time!
Lantau island, became memorable.Our journey back was more sober and i was busy wiping myself dry with two cloth hats. Koots was amused, i was not!

wakeboarding

For some time now, wini has been talking about wakeboarding this and wakeboarding that. Initially could not comprehend what it was all about, more than the fact that it is a water sport. Slowly a little more clarity came by, and i realised that a speed boat pulls you, while you balance on a 'board' in water; guided sailing , can you say, without the sails, of course.
So, it was with a lot of curiosity i set out with wini and her friends, last sunday to Raffles place for an hour of wakeboarding. Raffles,used to be an exclusive place but after the meltdown of 1997, reluctantly threw open its facilites to the 'aam jan'.Hence it was that non members can avail of the facility of wakeboarding on an hourly basis. It is obvious that this club is abutting the sea.We tropped in and we meandered our way through the club and went to the waterfront.Their usual guide appeared after a bit of searching .We set off, me securely in the front of the boar, near the sailor and the rest at the rear, with the wind blowing against their faces and sea water splashing on them.It was a bumpy ride, as though there were pot holes in the water!
We went into the sea for a full 15 minutes.Just when i was wondering, the one hour is made up of half hour of sailing and only half hour of actual sport, we were told, that there was shooting practice by the army barracks nearby and he wanted to stay clear of it and was speeding away to shallow water near the next island.
There is a specific gear for this sport; there is the life jacket and there is a special shoe which goes and clicks on to the long board; there is a string which is attached to the boat and the other end has a clasp, which is held by the person on the board.The person jumps in the water and generally floats about while the boat starts to speed slowly; the wakeboarder slowly arises from a crouching position and at the right moment, stands up on the wakeboard, balancing all the while; riding the waves and weaving in and out of the 'waterpath' created a second ago by the boat. It was beautiful.Just like cyclists, you can balance with one hand or both.Must be quite a strain on the arms, shoulders as i could see.
Was tempted to try, but caution and 'wisdom' prevailed, and i stuck to being an active spectator.
Could see malaysia just a few hundred feet away. My handset could pick up messages sent by malaysian isp ; three of them in fact. But you need a visa to enter the land!
Back to the club, andheaded straight to the cafe;managed a vantage seat overlooking the sea; the crisp and golden brown french fries were the most perfect ones i have tasted; the 'chai' was also heavenly.

mommie with a green purse

I had made plans to look up some furniture for the drawing room.Invited amma and appa along on a sultry saturday evening. Amma came with a bright green saree with a matching small green bag!She told me i had gifted it to her sometime back. I was quite surprised that she is interested in wearing matching stuff!When i told her so, she showed her watch which had a matching green ring around the dial!I said wah!this is something i am quite surprised to see, because all of them had more or less the same shade of green. For anybody who knows my mother, this is a huge improvement.
Let me explain.Mommie acknowledges only a few basic colours in the world. They are red,blue, green. yellow and of course black and white.When we were small, we used to be given matching attire, with this axiom. Remembered vividly many a frustrating moment, in trying to tell her the different colours, leave alone different shades of the same colour.And this is not all. She will get a matching blouse for her, which will have no connection to the skirt/saree. She will dig out a tiny speck of that colour in the saree/skirt, which no other discerning eye can spot, and make the point that it is matching!
Of course the same person is now wearing a matching watch/purse with the saree!This is progress.I immediately flushed out the six small ethnic purses of bright and shiny stuff we bought for amma in Hongkong. While amma was quite pleased, appa was perplexed. Evalavu purse vechundu enna pana pora?

mothers of the world

I am pretty sure that fathers dont bond across countries and cultures the way mothers bond; and that too instantly.Barriers break down immediately and we are one large homogeneous group.Immediately one of them will show a photograph of her child(if they are 'new' mothers),otherwise the subject will almost invariably be about children, big or small.
There is a bit of showing off which takes place, there is a bit of gathering information, there is a bit of sharing concerns to find possible alternatives,there is genuine need for friendship.
Children form the centre of our lives, there is no getting away from it. Even after they have grown up and would like to lead their own lives.Whatever else happens in their lives, there is one person who will respond instantaneously to their needs; she is there for them come what may.
Was talking to a friend sometime back and she was sharing her experience of sitting up many a night looking after her small baby. Her mother was with her and on a particularly frustrating night, she asked her mother, 'when will all this end?"Her mother told her,'End?, there is no end; look at me your mom keeping up on this night; and you are the one who has given birth to a child!"She told me, that conversation with her mom, really changed her perspective.Yes, being a mommy is not a tenure post. There is no retirement.You are in it for life.
Another friend whose children are pursuing their higher studies/got married, had a similar if somewhat different story to tell.She told me that they keep telling her, mommy dont keep worrying about us; we are fine; do what you always wanted to do, but could not find the time when we were very young. She asked me, children have always been my life, and suddenly when they tell me to do my own thing, I am left bewildered,what should i do? I have never asked myself what i want from life.I want my children to be happy and when they are doing things which they want to do and making a go at being successful in life, that is what i want. What I want is congruent with their successes and their dreams.Even after pondering over this question deep and hard, i am not able to price myself away from the children and have an independent existence. Yes, children are deeply intertwined with us.
But then i do have a friend who told me, now that both her boys are away on higher studies, she has time and energy to pursue her dream of writing a book, doing her phd and leading her own life.She is rare and i figuratively sat at her feet and listened to her take on life, as it were.Let go .... But all the 3 hours i spent with her, her talk was centered around her two boys, and i know her and her husband more than i know the boys, so what does that indicate?
It is not only friends who get into the subject at the drop of a hat; here was this lady, whom i was meeting casually for the second time.She told me she is the mother of two boys who are doing higher studies in a different country. She showed me her sons"s photographs and for the next 5 minutes, was telling us important stories from their childhood.It ended with her telling me, that her elder son, who is ususally very quiet, has recently sent her a email, which said just two sentences, i am fine, i love you very much.She was glowing when she was telling me this.The satisfaction and fulfilment she gets in pursuing her chosen career does not detract from the genuine pleasure in talking about her children and their affection for her.
What is the moral of the story?Like some new age story writers, i leave it to the reader to form their own take on this post.

see no evil......

Travelling by MRT yesterday to go for a dinner invite with koots.I have now become quite familiar with the routine,seeing everyone minding their own business and going about very purposefully and noise levels being pretty low in the compartments.Three young boys got in along with a elderly lady, and the minute they sat down they did not look hear and there but immediately started playing video games.The lady was busy browsing a Chinese newspaper, relieved that the youngsters are pretty much engaged and wont be a bother.I saw quite a number of travellers, having either an ipod or mobile wire attached to their ears.They were in their own world of music of their choice and preference.The rest of them, were either dozing off or looking straight ahead, with no interest in the fellow travellers.Yes, did see a few couples, who were engaged in staring deeply into each others eyes, again silently.Every one of them an island in themselves, and choosing to be so, having nothing to see or hear or speak to the next person.

Gandhi's three monkeys immediately flashed through my mind. Yes these people really follow his teachings fully. They hear no evil, as they are wired to their music and cannot hear any evil.They dont see any evil, as either they shut their eyes or are glued to the small handheld device in front of them and blank out every other picture from their mind's eye.They speak no evil as they dont as much as speak to anyone at all.
I really wished that they had not taken Gandhiji's teaching to that extreme.

MRT enabled

Yes, i am proud to say that i am mrt enabled ;in fact yesterday.There are a good number of people who will be perplexed saying what is the big deal. In Singapore and elsewhere, it is the easiest and most efficient way to get around. But then they miss the point. I have been visiting yasaswini for the last few years that she has been here. Either use the taxi or brother takes us out in his car. If you start using taxi on the first day, there is every chance that you will stick to them time and again. They are that addictive.They are friendly, give you correct change back, the taxi meter is not doctored, they dont say nasty things and they know the routes and take you by the nearest one.When there is a choice of equally good roads, they ask you for your preference; no, dont get me wrong, they dont ask to check out whether you are new to the place, so that they can fleece you.You book a taxi to go to the airport, it is just a phone call and not only that, immediately the time and address is played back to you. I found that amazing.Found our address in the small screen in the taxi in front of the driver.The entire operation is technology enabled. There is no room for error.No need to make a call and check and recheck every time.

Coming back to the main story, never had a chance to get into the mrt till now. Some hesitation to try something new. Yesterday, yasaswini got a plastic card which enables me to use the trains and buses while at singapore. She put me through the paces and i followed everything like a dutiful pupil. Yesterday i went and met her in Buona vista station on the way from her workspot; my first mrt ride unescorted!Big victory.
Actually travelling in the metro rail recently in Hongkong has helped, i guess. We did not have a choice there, as we were told that taxis are really not an option, as traffic jams are notorious. And no sibling there either!
Yasaswini told me it is all quite easy,the nameboards are in English. But then, there is so much written all over the place, so many signboards, telling you so many things; it takes a while to sift out the unwanted from the necessary ones .I remember reading that there are so many millions of images that the eyes see every second, and continuously keep erasing what the mind thinks as not relevant. If it were not so, then the harddisk gets overloaded, i guess.
So i confidently told myself, i will take the mrt to raja's house tomorrow.
Life is made of small successes....