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Showing posts from March, 2011

Wilde's Cricket

Why has my motley diary no jokes? Because it is a soliloquy and every man is grave alone - Emerson  A joke needs a listener. Perhaps it is as true of other art forms though the practitioners like to assert they find completeness in creation itself. But surely a joke is quite simply gauged by the laughs it earns. I don't know who coined it - Jay Leno perhaps-  the term 'cricket' refers to jokes that fell flat: the audience is so silent you can here the crickets chirping in the back of a set. It may have been too clever for the audience, it may have had one reference too many, it may have toyed with the boundaries of laughablity. But the fact is, it fell flat.

Kavithai IyaRRi Kalakku

    Today morning was well spent at a function releasing the Prof.Pasupathy 's 'கவிதை இயற்றி கலக்கு'. The book is a compilation of a series introducing traditional Tamil poetic grammar, that he wrote over a period of three years in mayyam.com     I had the chance to listen to Thiruppoor Krishnan, Vetriazhagan, Thamizhazhagan and Ilandhai Ramaswamy's speeches. Thoroughly enjoyable. The release was organized by Bharathi Kalai kazhagam in Adyar.

Dotting the i's and other moo points

This post nitpicks a reasonably good article. K Klutch Klan - Tehelka. It is an article intended as a primer to those who know little about the TN political scene in general and Karunanidhi in particular. And to be fair to the writer, for the above stated objective, she does a pretty good job while also throwing in some interesting anecdotes, that I - who fancies himself quasi-literate here - didn't know about. Usually, I'd also channel in a ' those Delhiwallas don't bother checking TN details and seem to be writing in a way to best reach a North Indian audience '. But this time there was a mix of appropriate and inappropriate detailing, that I thought: ' perhaps this is as good as it gets when reporting about anything. So I better take my salt-pinches when reading articles about other parts of India too '. But the article had one too many ouch/funny moments. Details that could have been checked and some other slip-ups etc. that I want to bring up h

Puranaanooru - a long ramble

The posts trumpeted in the podcasts are:  Read earth pouring rain and context  &  Appraisal Hope this gets some of you hooked into sinking your teeth into the real thing. Do check out blogger, music-critic Suresh's Kuruntokai translations here

கண்ணில் தூவ கற்ற கைமண்

ஜெமோ'வின் இந்து ஞான மரபில் ஆறு தரிசனங்கள் படித்தேன். நல்ல அறிமுகம். 'நல்ல அறிமுகம்' என்று சான்றிதழ் வழங்குவது, அந்நூலை மட்டுமே படித்தவன் செய்யக்கூடியதில்லை. அறிமுக நூலுக்கு அவசியமாகிற சுருக்குதல்/எளிமைப்படுத்துதல்களால், சாரம் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுவிடவில்லை என்று சொல்ல அத்துறையை ஓரளவு நன்கறிந்தவர்களால் தான் முடியும். தகுதியெல்லாம் பார்த்தால் வலையுலகில் தொழில் பண்ண முடியுமா. என் சான்றிதழும் ஒரு மூலையில் இருந்துவிட்டு போகட்டுமே.

சாமிபுஸ்தகம்

அதெப்பிடி மாப்ள வெக்கப்படாம பேசிட்ட? Saamipusthakam by dagalti