Different Strokes

It's finally official! Starting soon, I will be posting from time to time on here too. Thanks to Amit for the invite.

Thalaivar punch-ey punch...

Singathe konja mudiyathu...
Sivajiya minja mudiyathu..

Kanna....
Aalu rounda iruntha podhathu..
Aatathula all roundera irukkanum...

Amaidhikku Babaji..
Adidhadikku Sivaji!!

Thanneerai Killa Mudiyuma ?
Sivajiya vella mudiyuma?

Paambey patha padaye nadungum....
Indha Sivajiya paathu... pambe nadungum!

Phone adicha ringu...
Indha Sivaji adicha sangu.

==================================

Don't know if this is the real thing, but thalaivar punch-ey punch!

Amit, you understood just one word, since the rest were all in Tamil! Hmmm...

Since this post seems to have mysteriously cropped up on this week's blog mela (I wonder who nominated it, so will just thank Amit), I have to add, for the benefit of all you non Tam readers, that the above is a set of lines, supposedly from Thalaivar's forthcoming movie, Sivaji.

Again FYI, Rajinikanth (or Thalaivar, as he is fondly called) usually has a number of such punch-lines in his movies. Usually one of them gets repeated throughout the movie like this one from Baasha - Indha Baasha oru dharava sonna, nooru dharava sonna maadhiri (A single word from Baasha is as powerful as a hundred words). Or this one from Padaiyappa - En vazhi thani vazhi (My way is unique). Simple and yet, powerful. And their hundred different hidden meanings are totally lost in translation from Tamil to English.

The Superstar (who gives this blog part of it's URL), along with Mithun da in Hindi and Megastar Chiranjeevi in Telugu, forms the Holy Trinity of Indian cinema. Watch their movies, even if you cannot understand a word of that particular language. I guarantee that you will come out feeling contented that it was money well spent on entertainment.

Kodambakkam on demand...

Sepia Mutiny has this post on the release of 79 desi DVD titles on Netflix. But what really caught my eye in that post are these words -

This comes in the same week that GV Films announced their intent to create a legal Bollywood (and Tamilwood [is that even a word? - ed]) film downloading system

According to a news release that I found on GV Film's website, this translates to almost 6000 movie titles that will delivered to paying customers (who possess a credit card) via two portals - "gvtamilfilms.com" and "telugupictures.com"!

While this is awesome news, I am at a loss trying to figure out how this peice of news passed under the radar for over 2 months (the press release on the GV films site is dated 17th Aug.).

Hmmmmm....

neengadha reengaram naan dhaane,
nenjodu nenjaaga nindrene;
raagangal thaalangal nooru,
raaja un per sollum paaru;
sindhamal nindradum sendhenae,
sangeetham undagum nee paesum pechil dhaan.....

ABSOLUTELY URGENT: Accommodation wanted

Two posts are long overdue on this blog. I do have to apoloize to Thennavan and also to all those who are waiting for those answers for the IMDB quiz from a few weeks ago. The last few weeks have been very hectic and when I finally found the time to blog a couple of days ago, something made be really mad and I had to post my thoughts on that.

Anyways, it is time for another post. I still don't know if its safe to say this, but I am really in a time crunch and so I thought I will post this "Accommodation wanted" ad right here on my blog.

I am going to be moving to the Parsippany / Roxbury / Rockaway area (I am going to be working in Rockaway) in New Jersey, on a long term assignment and am looking for accommodation. I am looking either for a single bedroom or a studio apartment in that area. Alternatively, I could share an apartment but would love to have a bedroom for myself. So in case you are looking for a housie to live with you, I am the ONE!

If you have a place in mind or if I fit the profile of a prospective housie for you or someone you know, please call me @ 740 274 0340. If I don't pick up, please leave me a message and a number to call you back. Alternatively, leave a message in the comments as well. I need to move in on or after November 14 (Monday).

And ya, I do have a "accommodation wanted" ad posted on both Sulekha and craigslist. Tips and suggestions are awaited and appreciated from the bottom of my heart.

A tragicomedy in 993 words

What can you say about a 993 word tragicomedy? Particularly if it was created using a type face which is probably frowned upon in every educational and business institution including the ones that it intends to hold sway over? I don't know, but certainly it seems like an exercise in anachronistic stupidity. Let my arguments not sway you, but you can find the comedy here and come to your own conclusions.

The document starts by lamenting about the "indifferent attitudes and practices against girl child including their health and well being". But the salient features of this new regulation introduced by the CBSE are these:

1. 100 percent waiver of tuition and other fees (except for meals and transport) in current affiliated schools from standard 6 onwards for every girl student "who is also the single child of a parent"
2. "Appreciation" if these schools would consider a 50 percent fee waiver for "every girl student who is one of two daughters who are also the only two children in a family"
3. In addition to 1. and 2. above, any other fees (i.e. for transport and meals) to be waived at the discretion of the school management.

Before I go on to actually say why I don't like what the CBSE is trying to do, look closely at the language (the highlighted parts specifically) in the second point. Is it just me, or does that line remind you of the old "I have two daughters and both of them are girls" joke that has been attributed to the Physical Education teacher of every school in India (and to the head of a certain educational institution in the outskirts of Chennai)? And if you are one of those who clicked on the link above and downloaded a MS Word doc, did you notice the font in the document?

Jokes apart, this encompasses every single (eligible) girl student regardless of economic conditions. But, if this was to be limited to underprivileged gals alone, then the CBSE board is the wrong place to apply it, since most CBSE schools (a overwhelming majority, I should think) are outside the reach of the average underprivileged kid in India.

I'd have agreed to such a system only under these conditions:

1. If it was applied, on the basis of economics, i.e. for all those gal kids whose parents fall under a certain income bar.
2. If it was applied by the government for non-CBSE government schools, where a large percentage of the middle class and a overwhelming majority the lower middle class send their kids to study.
3. If this scheme's intended results (whatever they may be) were validated by the application of this scheme at the Central government run Kendriya Vidyalayas for a year or two.

But I know the first is next to impossible in India, where tax evasion is rampant and there is no better way to judge someone's economic capacity. Moreover, the rules are to be implemented on the basis of a simple affidavit sworn by the parents who are to "intimate" the school on any changes in the "single status of the girl child/children in the family" (single status???). Will this self regulation help?And the last mentioned won't serve much purpose since the 871 Kendriya Vidyalayas are already subsidized and AFAIK, the are the only government run CBSE schools in the country.

And as Mrs.YGP (for all you readers from outside Chennai, she heads a group of well known schools affiliated to the CBSE in Chennai) says, this will cause just the opposite effect than it is intended, i.e. it will increase discrimination. She raises a valid point that even if there is just one eligible girl student per class in her school(s), her organization can afford to waive the fees for the estimated total of 140 girl students.

Or maybe a school like Padma Seshadri can, but forcing private schools to do something like this which goes against their business model is not the hallmark of a free market economy that our country claims to be. The government is essentially trying to be a welfare state without the money infusion from its side.

But who the CBSE trying to help? The middle and upper middle classes? Are these the target demographic for all the anti-female foeticide propaganda? Is this community group that accounts for majority of female school drop-outs? The answers for the last two questions are definitely "No" which is why the second point that I raised above, i.e about the non-CBSE schools, particularly the ones run by the government itself, is extremely pertinent.

I am sure everybody would love to get something for free, but was this something that was asked for? Is the CBSE trying desperately to prove that there *IS* something called a free lunch, after all?