Anecdotal Evidence

The airlines announcer can't say this the last boarding call , when it quite clearly is not. She can't say this is a final boarding call - which, while being the most honest thing to say is unlikely to achieve a thing. So the poor dear says: " this is final boarding call... ". And you thought Indians were just careless with prepositions !

When you take something unoriginal and put your stamp on it by trying to rhyme, then I guess that may be termed re-verse. I mean, what is original anyway... As it goes in Latin: prudens interrogatio dimidium scientiate - all that a scientist discovers in a fact is the language in which he enunciates it. So here's an old joke.... In another instance, quoted from the dictatorial regime of Gen Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan, Mr Luther said Zia's barber used to ask the General when he would usher in the promised democracy.An annoyed General once admonished the barber for asking the question repeatedly and wanted to know how he was concerned with democracy. The barber replied: "General, I have no idea what democracy means, but every time I ask the question, your hair stand on end and it makes my job easy!" And now it is mine: அரும்பெரும் அண்டை நாடாம் பாகிஸ் தானம் அதற்கு ஒரு தலைவன் அரசது வமைக்கு மொரு முறையாம் ஜன நாயக மதற்கே செறு பகைவன் மறுமொழி கேளா ஜெனரல் ஜியா என்றால் அண்டம் நடுங்...

"Our sambhar may be sweet, our women too forward, our government right-wing, we may have opened the gates to a greater integration with -what the informed rightly call - the North Indies...But sir, at the end of the day, we have Cubbon Park. Your city does not." he said dipping a slice of his kadubu into a cup of liquid jaggery. I smiled patronizingly. "The reason for that is quite simple sir" , I said dusting the sand off my gentle moustache. "You see, a place like Cubbon Park with its deceptive sense of idyll encourages all and sundry to attempt poetry. Even I came within an ace of that this weekend about Eden, Fall of Man and all. Scary, no ? We - the Hindu reading population of Madras - take our role as protectors of our national language quite seriously. That is why we make do with Panagal Park and even build flyovers next to it. Even with that, our boundless imagination sometimes threatens to make us susceptible to poetic afflatus. Then, we sit down and...

Work is the curse of the drinking class - Oscar Wilde திங்கள் விடிந்தால் காதைத் திருகி இழுத்துக் கொண்டு போகிறது - Gnanakkoothan It's good to have land - Stewie Griffin

G.K.Chesterton most famously said Angels fly because they take themselves lightly Let's ignore that and celebrate the virtue of self-consciousness along the lines of Matsuo Basho the founding-father, so to speak, of Haiku. He once recalled something he wrote ten years earlier and mentioned to his pupil, how the last line should have been re-written. A poem is never really completed, only abandoned - Paul Valery via AKR Here is something abandoned in 2004, 2006 and 2007 and further scissored down further this morning Brittle Beauty A moment’s beauty is always there For every creature that was around It’s only those who’ve some to spare Who give hope of life unbound. But then there are morals, then there is shame And worse: ‘each one has an innate talent’ God! Whoever said ‘twas a fair game? It’s just us cynics who are gallant The rest go armed with handkerchieves That play purdah to the eager eyes Evolution indeed from the days of fig leaves But then, Adam hadn’t a choice So here ...

Often I feel like the girl in "If Tomorrow Comes" who plays chess with the American and Russian. To the technical guys I am the business guy To the business guys I am the technical guy I speak of Tamil literature to 'English medium' friends Moffusil politics to Chennaites I'm the conservative's liberal and liberal's conservative All that, I assure you -not in a show-offy manner. But in a simple what-can-I-bring-to-this-table contributory way. I could be the only screenwriter who plays the oboe - Charlie Kaufman, Adaptation But what's impressive about the iceberg is that we assume there's more from where it came from. We know we only see a part of its monstrous size and rest is below the water. The difference is, the knowledgable man doesn't sync enough. To be judgemental on this is being unrealistic. Biting off more than you can chew is a virtue in Tamil culture. So it took me some alienation to appreciate the wisdom in.. I'm always amaze...

The conscious man's smile surely is fake How else can he with his weighty thoughts bear The wide world's misery to which he's awake And smile as if, it is all quite fair I can only ditto what greats thus spake Content that the answer is somewhere there Had the cave man laughed, history would have been different - Lord Henry Wotton, Picture of Dorian Gray Gratiano : Let me play the fool: With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come (Act I, Sc I, Merchant of Venice) Why has my motley diary no jokes? Because it is a soliloquy and every man is grave alone. Ralph Waldo Emerson As a writer of light fiction, I have always till now been handicappedby the fact that my disposition was cheerful, my heart intact, and my life unsoured. Handicapped, I say, because the public likes to feelthat a writer of farcical stories is piquantly miserable in his privatelife, and that, if he turns out anything amusing, he does it simply inorder to obtain relief from the almost insupportable weight o...

We are good friends now and I really enjoy your company. I mean that and not in an all-words-fake-warmth way that is natural to that line. But just for a moment, can you imagine....how it would been if things had gotten serious between us back then. We had many things that clicked and truth be said, the freedom and flexibility I had with you, did in many ways make me whatever little I am. But I was always conscious of our dissance. For a while I thought I could like you in my own way but after a point I could not deny certain things. Like how you were always too quick and dare I say, of a rather unmanageable size for me. And I too meek and nondescript to match with you. We ended it right and now I am only even more sure of that. Aspects of you I knew and enjoyed have changed substantially but in some inexplicable way you are the same. I wish I could say the same about myself. Happy Valentine's Day Mumbai !

Regarding translation, AKRamanujan mentions a lovely story about how a Chinese emperor tried digging a tunnel. A minister suggested digging from both sides and the emperor asked him what is the digging didn't meet. "Then we will have two tunnels instead of one" came the reply. Enamoured by the analogy this writer takes his pick-ax and gets to work. Those who know the Tamil original, the tunnel story is for you. And those who don't, well it atleast rhymes, doesn't it ? A bright little spark of fire I found And tucked it away in a burrow in the woods All the forest was razed to the ground Does the rage of fire know its shouldn'ts and shoulds

Like the philosophically inclined kitten which is carried by the mother cat by the scruff of his neck, I lazily await enlightenment. I hear it is a tradition that is rooted in humility as it passes the buck to powers that be to care enough. But the central issue is, how can I care about, let alone long for, what is allegedly an acutely I-less, scheme of things The first story I remember writing, was written with crayons. Not drawn, written. I was in a school that believed children's hands are too soft to wield a pencil till they were seven. Where are those places now ? Anyway,the story ended with the words "...then I died" . I seem to have had an early understanding that sorrow was the cornerstone of serious literature. Atleast that's what I plan to say when the NY Review of Books interviews me. It was set in McDonald type farm and it wasn't much of a story as much as it was a description of the grim melee of animals pitted against each other - which in retrospect...

It is ruthless how people expect everyone to have an opinion on the economics slowdown. I don't mind humouring cabdrivers and supplying their solid common sense with some jargon armoury. But someone starts a serious conversation I so wish he talked about whether. "You did economics right, so what do you think went wrong ? People say it's going to be say it's going to be dim the next three fiscals.." That's my cue word. From there I know I am in a conversation I should be out of real quick. I try the old but sure trick "look there is Ramalinga Raju" and gently slip out. Why do they do this ? Do you see me starting polite conversations with electrical engineers on the lines of "suppose you have a solenoid of length n ". Is it too much to ask to be extended the same courtesy. But, you may point to a flaw in my argument that electrical engineers will probably smack their lips and relish such conversation. But you see, that is one of the reasons...

For some reason people classify puns under jokes when it quite obviously classifies under poetry. Among the several purposes of this blog is to right that wrong. A carpenter known for his innovations also used to moonlight as a deer hunter. Once he lurked in the dark and after a hard struggle proved to be an ace marksman and killed a poor dear. Famished he settled down on an instant barbecue and as soon as he finished the meal he lost his eyesight.That day he discovered venison blinds

Srikkanth finally does what he was hired for. Balaji back in the team. Jokes apart, he had an awesome Ranji season, leading TN's charge . The team itself had a good run and would have made it to the final (to lose to Mumbai of course), had it not been for the infernal first innings lead rule - which in this writer's opinion should be taken out and shot - that awarded UP the semifinal, because a blighter made a virtue of longevity and camped in the middle for a week or so. It is unfortunate that during the the partisan days the sceptre only that far south to Gundappa Viswanath and no further. Watching Sujith Somasunder open for India gave me hope in life, in those days when I worked the sheen off the rubber ball with what the embellishing racounter in me describes as a "many a glorious square drive", saying to myself "mEra number aayEga". These days there seem to overbalance as Badri waits in the sidelines as Srikkanth seems intent on making another Badani o...

“… all babies are born with knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother’s heart is in iambic meter. Then, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us." - Billy Collins It is essential for the readers of this blog to acquaint themselves with the phases of this writer's literary history, in order to better appreciate the forthcoming contents. Till I was 20, I was quite attracted to sombre stuff like the Billy Collins quote above. Its poignancy would have drawn some sighs and long ruminations from yours truly. Now, if I were to be surprised by a curve-ball of that sort I deftly observe " Pretty stiff stuff that " and move on with the usual business of existence. A mature sense of humour, which some detractors have mistaken to be flippancy, elevated my persona almost as soon as I was done with being a teenager. Given that this emotional progression is usually in the reverse, it will have to be said that this author has always lived his life in reverse. Pe...