Tommy and the fused bulb

I am in the worst mood while I type this post. One of the bulbs which I had got recently, had fused.
For those of you who don't know a fuse bulb.......
Description: Fuse bulb is the bulb obtained by someone, which when thought to be working well, fuses suddenly due to the negligence shown by the user.

example:
I was asked by the company in which I was placed to fill the online form for offer letter. While doing so, I had to fill a column for references. Usually references mean HOD, Professors et al. I would have also given some staff's name, but the following description was a blessing.

other than relatives, with whom you have worked/obtained professional education.

Though my brother confused me to give the staff's name, I scrutinized the lines and came to a conclusion that, I should give a couple of my friends' name.
So, did I. I feared that I had done things to perfection. Then came the angel in the form of kamal(my friend) who had given the staff's name. In fact, all have given only staff's name. I was very happy that at last I have got a good beginning with the company. A bulb in the beginning itself. My Placement Officer also confirmed that it was a sure bulb.

I thought,"Thats it! naamalaavadhu bulb vaangaama irukaradhaavadhu". I told my friends. They envied me for my brilliance and luck. One of my friend Subramani who was envious that I have a good collection of bulbs, forced me to call the company and ask about it at 9.30 PM on 24th. Thank God! they asked me to call on 26th morning. I was happy that at least I would be in possession of the bulb for christmas. I can also give it to my neighbour Adaikalam and his wife Aarogyam, to light the christmas tree. As a matter of fact Adaikalam does not want to shift his house, as he is skeptical about getting bulbs of varied power for free year after year from a bright neighbour.

Coming to the matter, The next day ie today, I was a bit tired. I was not in my perfect senses. I should have been careful. The bulb was working fine after being returned by Adaikalam.
After my breakfast(pongal), I was a bit dizzy. Then with a madman's instinct, I called the company again. I asked, whether the bulb is here to stay with me, they told, actually what I have done is correct as per the description which was for experienced people. Though,I being a student, should have given some staff's name, the presence of such a description for a fresher hit my bulb on the head.

They told, my bulb is gone. You should have seen my happiness on 25th, talking to even Tommy, the street dog for fifteen minutes about the bulb on the Christmas tree. Tommy also wagged it's tail in response.

Coming to Tommy, Tommy was an ordinary street dog until recently. It was my friend Hari who baptised Tommy as Tommy. It was an interesting incident. We were talking outside my house that day. A man who ran and came near us asked the route for Iyappa temple, which is near Anjaneyar temple. It seems there was some procession that day from the temple. He spoke in malayalam. He was in a hurry. My friend hari asked, are you in a hurry. He being a malayalee told I am in a Hori. Hari was raged as he didn't pronounce it properly. Though the spellings for hurry and hari differ, they are pronounced in the same way. May be hari should have thought, that fellow should have pronounced his name also in the same way. Without knowing what to do, Hari saw the street dog and called out loudly, "Tommy catch him" as we see in films. The street dog responded and chased the fellow that entire evening. We got info that the fellow and the dog were spotted in the market, naer ration shop, my frien malolan from sanatorium reported that he heard people speaking about a man and a dog running near the lake in ther area. We thought Tommy did a great job and started feeding it. Tommy is now my pet street dog.

So, Deiva kutham aayidichu and hence my bulb fused.

The Brighter I part two

So, here's the continuation of the part one.
It's imminent that I will die as the brightest in the whole world.
Though nothing has changed in my condition from the part one, about a year ago, only things have become far worse, with my deeper understanding of the bulbs.
Here is the scheme how it works for me.

40 watt:
I get this when I know, I am getting one for sure, but cannot run away from the bulb, fearing of getting a higher watt bulb.

eg. A few years back, I was in the PTC bus from Pammal to Pallavaram. There was a drunkard, probably a construction worker with all his instruments, and sitting opposite to the back entrance. He was full tight and one of his instruments was rolling towards the entrance, sensing the situation, I took it, with a sudden burst of anger, he asked, "naan onna ketena? @@#$%^". That's how I got my first 40 watt. I feared, I would have got a 100 watt, if I let it fall.

60 watt:
This is a bit severe than the 40 watt, but there is no difference in how I take it.
It usually happens when I am totally unaware of the situation and get a bulb as a rude shock.

eg. This happened yesterday. I was in the gym, looking at myself in the mirror (4 mts * 1 meter) and feeling proud for being at least a bit leaner than the person standing next to me. "Naan summa thaan irundhen." There were about 4 ppl near me, including the fatso. I bent down to pick the dumbles. Suddenly, I heard a noise, for which I was not responsible, but since I had bent down, all the four (including the culprit(which must be he fatso I guess)) moved away. How can I react to this? poor me.

100 watt:
This is the most severe bulb one can get. I have got these bulbs a few times.

eg: This happened when I was in 4th standard. I was riding the BSA Champ cycle, which had a butterfly handle bar. It was during the holidays, I usually go for rounds around Nanganallur. It was the early days of Anjaneyar Temple. I used to go to the temple twice usually with an interval of 1 or two hours, so that I can get puliodarai first, then may be sakkarai pongal. I usually don't go in the early morning, when they give ven pongal. I don't like the pepper in it. On that day, I got sakkara pongal which was great, the taste lingering in my tongue and the heart to try once more, I went inside for another round. One can reach the counter where you get them only after visiting all the deities. So I made another attempt risking my entire reputation as one of my class girls had come there with her parents. Being a 9 yr old, I was not good at planning,just followed my instincts. When I reached the counter, was caught by the person giving away those stuff. He literally caught me by my left hand. He intended no harm though, and gave curd rice and complained to the person behind me who was the girls father. CURD RICE-The last thing in the world, I would eat in a temple. So, my dreams of sakkara pongal went in air and also had to survive the giggles of her friends in class the next day. She also told this to my teacher. I was very sad, that I didn't go to the temple for the next one week, for the second round. It was surely a 100 watt for a 9 yr old.

There are also other variants of the bulbs I get.

Tube Light: I get these when I think I am doing something great, when my deeds are only the clicks that a tube light makes before glowing brightly.

bedromas light: I get these usually when there is a power cut. Any bulb which I get during the power cut is a bedromas light(pronounce as goundamani does in vaidegi kaathirunthaal)

My primal fear is that, GE is investing some millions to research in some new technology bulbs which are eco friendly. So its a premonition for what I can expect in future.

Also there is some joy, all the environmentalists are against the electric bulbs. So, some of the older tanks(bulbs here) are out of the arsenal.

Books - an affair

Books can take you around the world without moving an inch
- by grandfather of Ashok Ganguli in The Namesake.

The best thing you can do in holidays is to read books. I still remember the day when I started with my first

Tinkle. Renga Lending Library, in my locality had been my best place to hang around, from then until now. Though, I started with novels very late, and have not read much, I would definitely say Tinkle, Panchatantra and Chacha Chaudri were definitely my way of life during holidays when I was young.

There are only a few books which i have read. I would say, I was lucky enough to have enjoyed all the books I have read.
My rating of the books I have read goes this way....


1.The day of the jackal: The best book that I have ever read. The kind of description that went into describing each part of the plan was breath-taking. The Jackal made me envy his calmness and attitude towards the work he takes up. This novel made me wake up at two in the morning, just to complete it before going to college. That was a great experience.


2.Sleepers: The book, though not a notable best seller, and not a compulsive addition to any collection, is a great work. Childhood trauma described in the best possible ways and moods. A compulsive read for all who have got only the best things in the world under the umbrella called Parenthood.


3.The Fountain Head: Another book, or should I call it something else? I being a slow reader took more than 2 months to read this book. Ayn Rand is truly ingenious, as one of my classmates had as the profile name for a long time in orkut. I learned for the first time, books could be this serious. Though the underlying philosophy was a bit difficult to understand, the orange haired man's feelings were best portrayed. Love was never felt like this and could never be ever.


3.The Namesake: Ah! here is the book, which supported my views on living in america. I rate this equal to The fountain head. The first world and its life-style described through the eyes of a third world. A very delicate handling of characters. Father's love for his son and his subsequent reciprocation is the central theme which is surrounded by the american way of life.


5.The davinci code: This book requires no description. But I had a big doubt. If Davinci was a homosexual, how was he made the head of that secret community(forgot the name) which believed, god could be found only in the time of ultimate happiness, ie when a man and a woman make love?


6.Five point someone: The book which taught me, life could also be like this for a student. I have always been in the cocoon of a studious image. I never went out of way to do things which I wanted, but this book was crazy and great.



7.Deception point: Another Dan Brown book with full of cryptography and stuff. Great book to read. But lacks substance. Just another fiction which can be described as "The UnPutDownable"


8.The world is flat: An eye opener. A layman's bible to understand the world and what happening in it. Best book to start with for anyone trying to move to the non-fictional stuff.


9.One Night at a call center: An ok, kind of book. But good at describing what lies under the so called "hi-life" of the techies in India.


10.The alchemist: The worst book I would say. Paulo Cohelo is just another mega-serial director.

There are a few tamil books also
Parthiban kanavu - kalki

The dynasity of the cholas best described. A political plot best described in the best words possible by kalki

Sujatha:


Have read many of his books...
Nillungal rajave
24 rubai theevu
kolai arangam
marubadiyum ganesh
aayirathil iruvar
sorga theevu

Also going to read many such as
Ilamayil Kol
Aryabatta
Nirvana Nagaram
Odaathey
Malai Kottai in these holidays.

Those who don't know tamil, should only envy. Sujatha, till now, the best writer of fiction in tamil for the educated class. Most of his novels were written in the 70s and 80s.
Ganesh and Vasanth(lawyer duo and imaginary characters in most of his books) have really reached a cult status. They discuss about anything and everything. Be it Pink Floyd, Beatles, P.G.Wodehouse, Ayn Rand, LTTE, UN, Indira Gandi...

Sujatha is a class apart from the rest of his time.

Billa review

Just back after watching Billa. A perfect example of remake, would be an understatement. It is a perfect remake to an extent that, you would feel,"I would have watched the older version in K TV." There is nothing at all new in this, except for the copied sets from DON 2006. Wherever they shoot, they focus on the Petronas towers in the back-drop. If both the versions of Billa reside near the Petronas tower, I am sorry, I have a serious question.

Thank god, there is no Inspector Verma as in the older version of Billa. Cannot digest someone in a tamil film with the name verma, which was copied from the then DON.

Nayanthara is not bad for the role, but cannot match priyanka chopra. Namitha is as always good for nothing. You should watch the fencing game between nayanthara and namitha. Namitha resembles the Michelin mascot. The introduction scene for ajith is superb. Camera work is superb. Editing is again very bad. There is no comedy in the movie, except when I thought about the 100 rupees and escaping the police treatment narrowly. The only solace I found in the movie was, the costume. They have tried to show nayanthara glamourously and have failed completely to understand that, glamour could be enjoyable, only when it is not intentional(this is the case with the entire film industry). What you get in a balu mahendra movie is glamour and not this. Namitha is disgusting.

A scene in which ajith escapes in a sport car reminded me playing NFS Carbon, where I would hit the trucks carrying cars to block the way, as the cars would roll down on the road from the truck and thus evade from police. So, vishnu vardan also plays computer games.

Kareena kapur and Helen will kill themselves when they find who has replaced their role.
Ajit looks awesome. There is one thing which is funny. He says,"can can" sometimes. It reminds me of someone selling water cans on the street. For the first time in tamil film history, the stunt sequences are believable. Maybe becuase of the chiese stunt director.

Music is where the film scores badly. Pan banaras wala was better in don 2006 than the older don. Here,vethalaya pottendi is worse than the older version. We would have tolerated, even with the older songs without remix, being played once again, but not these yuvan's own compositions apart from the ugly remixes of two very good songs. The back-ground music is good. But they should have been surely copied from some english album. We will find it eventually.

for example, the, "namma kaatula" song from pattiyal shares the same music as the back-ground music from the movie, Little Man in the scene timed, 7:48 to 8:02. This is yuvan's calibre.

positive points: Ajith, bgm (copied though), camera, costume, raguman.

negative points: namitha, santhanam(given only two scenes without any scope for comedy), prabhu(he did not fit for the international feel).

Overall, the film can be watched once. Sometimes, even I got confused. DOn't take your kids and waste another 100-150 rupees. Don't expect anything as in DOn 2006.