Anecdotal Evidence

Statistical evidence indicate that a vast majority of pre-teen Americans tend to actively seek informal learning channels to expand their vocabulary of expletives. It has been observed that the growth rate in this section of the pre-teen's vocabulary happens at a pace which is significantly higher than that of overall vocabulary and is often times unrelated to presence or absence of learning disorder in the subject. Researchers in the the Truism Development Lab (TDL), University of Obvious have been working since 2005 applying psychometric analyses with advanced neural net algorithms to identify patterns in teen behaviour captured through expertly designed surveys. These groundbreaking techniques have been able to minimize dependence anecdotal evidence. Prof. {white-ish name} the founder of TDL and research scientists {Indian Name} and {Chinese Name} made waves with their article: Evolution of nefarious vocabularic tendencies in pre-teens . in the recent issue of Journal of {I ex...

You are what you do....on weekdays. கோலமகட்துணை ஏற்றவனை மாறிடவிலகிட வாழ்த்தியபின் காலமகட்டிய நட்பதனை தேறல்நெருக்கிய மாலைகளித்(து) ஆழச்சுழட்டிடும் காவிரியில் துடுப்பாடியும் செல்வழி மாற்றமிலை -அது போலசிறுச்சிறு நினைவுகளைத் தேக்கிதிரும்பிய திங்களிது

This post is to bid to elucidate the roots of admiration that explain the etymological roots of this blog John Wayne said ' In all my films, I have played John Wayne. And I have done rather well, haven't I ?" On the other hand, Oscar Wilde most famously said " I put my genius into my life I put only my talent into my works ". Two contrasting schools. But what happens when the artist in question is genius personified ? If the previous paragraph sounded sophomoric, well you guessed right. It was the gist of the opening paragraph of a piece I tried writing when in college, titled : " Of Wayne, Goundamani and Wilde ". The intended recipient was "The Hindu" of indhula-sandhula fame. The paper had published an article the previous week hailing a then hot comedian which was a tad too effusive in praise for my taste. So I had set about trying to right wrongs.Of course, the article with the rejection slip came back home before I was even back from...

I just started reading Neela.Padmanabhan's thalaimuRaigaL.VAnathi charged me a princely Rs.120 for what they claim is one of the all time best Tamil novels. I had just finished Kazuo Ishiguro's short story collection Nocturnes (faber and faber Rs.499/-) Q: O what kind of man names prices of books he reads? A: Well, an angry one: Neela Padmanabhan's foreword showcases a writer who is quite conscious of his craft and the need to wield it with care. He takes strong exception to the practice of the narrator (or the author's voice in 3rd person novels) manifesting himself at the expense of the characters' credibility. His choice of dialect and expressions are dictated by his familiarity with the province and people. He was refuses to go all out in creating in completely unfamiliar territory. Regardless of whether this is ideal or not, that this is dictated by a commitment to credibility was something that I found impressive. And - here is the cherry - the n...

It is that time of the year again. The day we celebrate the child god. And quite unlike other birthday festivals like Christmas, Vinayaga Chathurthi, Ramanavami etc. this one feel special, because there is special emphasis on the child-God Himself. i.e. not a child who shall one day grow-up and become the God commanding awe. Which is why the feeling of celebration and endearment, come so naturally without piety and its attendant grown-up-ness. As has become an annual custom I was reading periyAzhwAr today. Arguably the most pleasing, universally appealing , easy-on-the-cerebrum poems in the divya prabhandham. And sheer delight. In an earlier post I had written about the appeal of celebrating the omnipotent as a child. PeriyAzhwAr explores various facets of this in several poems, which I will try to give some examples in the rest of this post. YasOdhA, after witnessing the various of acts of the Lord is afraid to nurse him. A whole decad of poems end with the refrain .. உன்னைஅறிந்துகொண...

Today is ONam. The day Mahabali comes from the netherworld that Trivikrama pushed him into, to see his subjects live well. The just and fair King who was 'tricked' by Vishnu. The man who 'gave' to the Lord himself. கொண்டானை அல்லால் கொடுத்தாரை யார் பழிப்பார் மண் தா என இரந்து மாவலியை , ஒண் தாரை நீர் அங்கை தோய நிமிர்ந்திலையே, நீள்விசும்பில் ஆரம் கை தோய அடுத்து Would anyone but blame The one who received Than the One Who gave? is a feeble translation of the first line of this pAsuram from Poigai aazhvAr's 'mudhal thiruvandhAdhi'.The rest of the lines talk about the how when Mahabali seals his promise with the ritual of water exchanging hands, the midget Vamana rose to the imposing form of Trivikrama, whose shoulders brushed with the heavens. Why did Vishnu have to defeat Mahabali ? Where is the 'defeat' of evil, in this whole thing? Why resort to devious trickery to fool such a noble man? Kamban, even puts a different spin on it. He says Mahabali was awa...

This is a self imposed tag (finally this is what I have come to). Found it when randomly bloghopping. The idea is to pick an author/band and answer all questions only with book titles/song titles. Pick Your writer: PG Wodehouse Are you male or female? Bachelor's Anonymous Describe yourself: A Gentleman of Leisure How do you feel about yourself? : Heart of a Goof Describe where you currently live: Hot Water If you could go anywhere, where would you go?: Blandings Castle Your best friend is: The Old Reliable Your favourite colour is: The Girl in Blue You know that: Pigs Have wings What's the weather like: Heavy Weather If your life was a TV show, what would it be called? Nothing Serious What is life to you? Laughing Gas What is the best advice you have to give? Leave it to Psmith If you could change your name, what would it be? Bill the Conqueror Your favourite food is: Eggs Beans and Crumpets Must admit I haven't read 3,9 and 14 but what the hell.. If you have read thus fa...