Enlightened ... There are no special effects.

முத்துக்குமரனை கப்பலின் மேல் தளத்தில், ஒரு பலகையில் நிறுத்தி சுட்டு விட்டார்கள். சனிக்கிழமை வந்த குமுதத்தில் வந்தது செய்தி. செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை, சுஜாதா தில்லைநகர் மகளிர் மன்றத்தில் பேசப்போகிறார். ஒன்பதாம் வகுப்பு படித்துக்கொண்டிருந்த எங்களுக்கு ஆர்வம் தாங்கவில்லை. ஆனந்த குமார், ஸ்ரீகாந்த், பரத்வாஜ், சுஜாதாவை சந்திக்க முடிவு செய்து விட்டார்கள். Agenda: முத்துக்குமரனுக்கு என்ன ஆயிற்று என்று தெரிந்துகொள்வது. முதலில் எனக்கு போக ஆசையாகத்தான் இருந்தது. ஐந்து நிமிட சந்திப்பு சுவாரஸ்யத்தை விட மிக அதிகமான சுவாரஸ்யம் படிக்கும் போது இருப்பதாலோ என்னவோ நான் அவரை சந்திக்கப் போகவில்லை. குறையொன்றுமில்லை. ஆனால் இப்போது, சுஜாதா இல்லை என்று நினைக்கும்போது, மிகப்பெரிதாக என்னவோ குறைகிறது. எத்தனை பேருக்கு inspiration? அறிவியலுக்கும் உணர்வுக்கும் இடையே நடுவில் வாழ்ந்தவர். உணர்வுகளை சரியாகப்புரிந்துகொண்டு ஒரு பார்முலாவைக்கண்டுபிடித்து கதைகளும், திரைக்கதையும் வசனமும் எழுதியவர். தான் special என்று உணர்ந்தும், எல்லோரும் சமம் என்று நடந்து கொண்டவர். பல நாயகர்களைப்போல இவரையும் சமூகம் மறந்து விடக்கூடும். மறந்து விடுவோ...

Yesterday I watched the movie 'Taare Zameen Par'. A good movie, very different from the 95% run-of-the-mill movies churned out by ?ollywood. A good attempt to bring to light some of the ignorance on learning. So, it would be unfair to focus details on where are the storyline slumped. I have observed a lot of kids go through the state of lack of fine motor skill at various points in time. Adults also go through this problem temporarily due to lack of sleep or some medication. I have seen a cousin, a very smart kid, often misspelling words when she was about 7-8 years old. Her parents and teachers were intelligent enough to see the actual problem and didn't fret over the "silly mistakes". Over a period of time, she was fine. My son wasn't comfortable buttoning his shirt or tying the shoe-lace until he was about 9 years old. I tried teaching him to button his shirt when he was five and both left the training frustrated. He would always prefer shirts w...

I have been waiting at La Guardia for the same amount of time, it took my travel from Detroit to La Guardia. I approached the ground transportation help desk to see if I have any options if the shuttle I booked doesn't show up. The previous day, it took me a few hours to research on the transportation options from New York La Guardia Airport to Raritan in New Jersey. I won't have much time as the flight's scheduled arrival is at 8:15 AM and I am supposed to meet my business contact by 10 AM. I have less than two hours to cover some 65 miles that includes New York traffic. Considering how bad a driver I am and my difficulty in switching near vision to far vision to keep track of maps and road signs, I chose to take a taxi or a shuttle. I searched for limo services, taxi rates etc and finally booked a shuttle. I wouldn't say my decision to go with that shuttle service can be backed up by good research, but at some point I just booked it without delaying further....

Compared what Microsoft offered through www.bhashaindia.com, Google's transliteration application much better. Considering the IME runs on the client, it could have been a lot better in detecting Tamil (though the IME is available for many Indic languages, Tamil happens to be a bit difficult one). For example, to get ன, you have to type the letter n followed by _ (underscore) within a second or so. With a small rule set and /or a dictionary, it could have detected the letter based on the context as Google does. Google does even better. To differentiate between kuril and nedil, most IME expected the users to use upper case. It has been a fair expectation. But it is also the users' common practice to begin a sentence in English with upper case. On transliteration, this caused a needless error and correction. With Google, typing 'Oru' or 'oru' results in a transliteration to 'ஒரு', which is a common word. Google also shows a context menu with oth...

I haven't been associated with any association for most part of my life. I had no option but to take active role in the association of the residents of my building. Reasons: I was the first one to move in and so had more contexts and an office 5 minutes away from home. So, I became an obvious choice to be one of the office bearers. The association is more of an administrative one to handle receipts from residents and payments to service providers like water supply, security etc., It is no more than a clerical job for the office bearers. Most importantly, the association would never involve in activities like petition to various government bodies or demonstrations or some such things associations are usually known for. I stayed away from any other associations as I do not believe in collective bargaining. We have so many caste based associations; religion based ones, political party affiliations and social networks to choose from. My strong opinion about such groups...

After almost 8 years we went to Mumbai and Pune. Both the cities are still attractive in patches. After all, I lived in those cities for a few years and can't just hate them. What's new More fly-overs, more air-conditioned cars were common for Mumbai and Pune. Mumbai as usual, exhibits poverty and wealth that strike you on the face. One big positive is the highway between Mumbai and Pune. It is truly world class in quality and maintenance. From Dehu Road to Aundh, for every hundred feet that is one new construction. The advertisements promise silicon valleys and such western paradises right along the slopes of Western ghats. Pune, for its part has its traffic increased a hundred fold. In spite of fly-overs and automatic signals, traffic was bad from Aundh to Cantonment area. Everyone was on the edge and city looked so different with rude drivers. Pune city now has many multiplexes and shopping malls. I didn't have enough time to visit any of them. We managed so...

If you have boarded a flight from Chennai's Anna International Airport and you can read Tamil, you might have noticed a sign " மெய்ப்புல அறைகூவலர் ". Ever wondered what it could be? If you can read English, then you can make sense of what this means - yes - it is " Physically Challenged ". I can't imagine who can come with such a dumb translation - that too from English to Tamil in Tamil Nadu. A physically challenged person who knows only Tamil has no use of such a sign board in Tamil.