Archive for the ‘Real Life’ Category
Achamundu Achamundu is refreshing
Posted on: August 10, 2009
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Prasanna and Sneha in Achamundu Achamundu (Pic courtesy Indiaglitz)
I watched “Achamundu Achamundu” over the weekend and I felt that it was a refreshing way of movie making by Arun Vaidyanathan. The movie deals about a sensitive theme which is rarely touched in Indian films. So it was actually a brave attempt by Arun to take up such a subject and present it in a way which will not make the Indian audience uncomfortable. To be frank I am not a critic and I don’t want be one too. This is the first time I am writing about a movie on my blog.
The reason I wanted to write about this one is because of the close to reality presentation of our life in the US by the director. I was plainly irritated and frustrated by the way Bollywood has been depicting an NRI life on the screen in the past few years and I am happy that Arun Vaidyanathan has stuck close to reality. The interactions between the lead pair, Prasanna and Sneha were sweet and it reminds us of our day today life here in America.
The movie was a short one and except for the last 20 minutes or so there was not much action or any notable twists but the way the director moved the story along keeps us interested. After I finished watching the movie I was wondering how the director manages to make a 1 Hr 40 min movie with such a storyline which could have been a short film at best. The thing that works for Achamundu Achamundu is the realism. As a IT professional muself living in the US for the past 7 years, I could relate to the day to day activities of the lead pair in the movie.
The movie also deals with a subject that is rarely touched upon in Indian cinema. But the unfortunate thing for Arun will be that not many people will actually understand what John Shea’s character in the movie is in India. The educated audience might get the hang of it but I would feel that most of the Tamil audience might assume him to be a kidnapper at the best. Until the movie ends and the paper clippings are shown there might be a small confusion for the common man in India.
But as far as I am concerned the movie was fantastic. It kept me glued for the duration and even though the climax was rushed and finished abruptly the overall effort was commendable. Prasanna and Sneha performed brilliantly and gave a very subtle performance. Prasanna as an IT professional was convincing and so was Sneha as a house wife in the US. Arun couldn’t have picked a more appropriate cast for the movie.
The rest of the caste was adequate. John Shea as a child molester was wooden at most times but was adequate and so was the guy playing Prasanna’s friend. The girl who acted as the lead pair’s daughter was very good as a kid brought up in the US. The way Sneha keeps reminding her kid to talk in Tamil was sweet and reminds me of lots of parents here in the US who want their kids to stay in touch with their roots. The subtle things like that have made this movie different from the other NRI based movies.
All in all it was a wonderful effort and kudos to everyone who were involved in making this movie. I hope that Arun Vaidyanathan goes from strength to strength after this one and gets the right break he so richly deserves. As far as Prasanna and Sneha are concerned, they have once again proved that they are the two most natural actors in Tamil cinema.
Pitch dark at 9:00 AM
Posted on: August 4, 2009
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It was routine day at work. I was sitting at my desk and doing my work and suddenly my friend pings me on the IM and asks “Did you look outside?” and I was like “Why what happened?” and then he says “Its pitch dark outside”. I immediately turned back to take a look through the window and I could not see anything. I sit quite far away from the window and it was so dark outside that I was only seeing the reflection of the workplace in the glass. I left home at 7:45 AM and did not even get a hint of what I would be seeing an hour later.
I walked closer and looked outside and it was unbelievable. It was dark and raining and I have never seen something like this in my life. I couldnt believe that it was 9:00 AM in the morning.
Nature never ceases to amaze you, does it?
When I think back at my school days, the memories are not that pleasant. School days are the most important part of anybody’s life. School not only gives you education but in many ways teaches the way of life. A kid spends most of his time at School in a day. I was one of the kids who hated the thought of going to school. It’s unfortunate that I felt that way. Schools in India do not make life that easy for the kids.
Schools in India teach you lots of things other than providing education, competition, jealousy, frustration and hatred. India has one of the best curriculums in the world and one of the best basic educations but the implementation needs lot to be desired. The problem in India is that education is all about the marks and not the knowledge. The pressure on the students is enormous starting from a very early age.
Teachers don’t make life easy for the kids either. They punish, scream, humiliate and make life miserable for the kids who are not in their words “brilliant”. I never found a need to read someone’s marks out loud in front of the entire classroom. There was Botany teacher who actually hit the kids who failed with a cane when giving the papers. He not only did that for the kids who failed but also to someone who scored less than 50 (40 being the pass mark). Did he do that for the welfare of the kids? I will never know.
Some teachers are so predictable as at one point the kids are just resigned to the fact that this is what is going to happen if they don’t do something right. Some teachers get sadistic pleasure in punishing the kids. There was a teacher in my school who used to smile every time she hit someone. It was disgusting. I am not saying every teacher is like that but some of them are. The rage, the anger and the complete lack of rational thinking was something I noticed from some teachers during my school days.
I still remember the occasion when I was beaten and punished so badly for something I never did in the first place. This happened when my entire class was getting punished and we were asked to go to the school ground and run a couple of laps as a punishment. I had braces in my teeth at that time and I had the habit of touching my mouth all the times as it can be really painful. Our vice-principal at that time caught hold of me and started hitting me like anything thinking that I was covering my laugh. He never listened to what I had to say and made me kneel down entire day in front of my class.
My friends knew that I do that all the time but even if I had laughed, did I deserve such extreme punishment? I am not sure but few people might think I did. But I always felt that no one has to hit a kid to teach him/her a lesson. Well later that week I went over to his office to get permission to take a day off to meet my dentist and he realized his mistake and apologized to me, but I felt the damage was done. I guess there is something about few teachers in India which makes them a scary image for the students. They get angry easily and if they do, then only god can save the kids. Sometimes it feels like the teachers are like a volcano ready to erupt. They try to vent out all their frustration and anger at the first opportunity they get and unfortunately the students bear the brunt. Punishment can be without being physical and still be effective. It’s almost as if we learn as a kid that hitting someone is okay if they have done something wrong. That is hardly a good example for the kids to follow.
Teachers I feel need to be an inspiration for the kids, the people we look up to for knowledge and guidance. They need not be friends with the kids but have to be the people whom the kids respect. I felt that a good teacher always gets a better result from the kids. I have been out of school for about 12 years now and still when I think back I hardly have any pleasant memories from my days there. My father was a Bank employee and we had to move around a lot and for some reason I had same experiences throughout my school life wherever I was.
I don’t think that things have changed much in India as an 11 year old died after being punished by a teacher at school recently. This is atrocious and I hope that the authorities put to end such corporal punishments. School is not the place for someone to show their personal frustrations and anger. This is an unfortunate incident and my sympathies and prayers are with the beleaguered parents. I hope that parents take the kids seriously when they complain of abuse by the teacher and don’t ignore such things.
As far as I am concerned it doesn’t have to be that way. I was an average student at school, went through the system as a back bencher but did okay in the long run. I wouldn’t credit anyone other than my parents and the society we grow in for my success. Education is an important part of a person’s life and it doesn’t have to be a painful experience for kids.
Teachers are the important cogs in the wheel of our educational system and they can make learning a memorable experience for the kids. I am not against schools and obviously not against education but school shouldn’t be a place where the kids are scared to go. Teachers need a way to punish kids who are unruly but physical punishment isn’t an answer to it. Parents also need to get more involved in this process. If a child complains of a beating they have to confront the teacher and ask him/her whether they can help avoiding such things in the future. They have to realize that it’s not always the kids fault.
Attacked by a Crow
Posted on: July 16, 2009
Crows are very prevalent in Chennai, the city in India where I come from
I was in the 6th standard when this weird incident happened. We were at that time living in Royapettah, Chennai in a two storied building. We had a huge terrace where I used to spend lots of time. Most of the times playing with my friends but sometimes I just preferred to hang out up there as it was one of the tallest buildings in the street.
So one evening my cousin and I decided to go upstairs and play some cricket and as usual the ball was hit outside onto the road. So I decided to go and see where the ball fell and that’s the time this happened. There was a huge tree right in front of our house and its branches came up to our terrace. So when I leaned over to take a look suddenly from nowhere this crow flies and hits my head. I was shocked at first and then thought that it was just an accident as there was a nest close to where I was standing, so I thought that I was just on the of the bird’s flight path.
It was no big deal and we went down and picked up the ball and went back home. The next day I was leaving to school in the afternoon walking down the stairs and again this crow from nowhere flies and hits my head once again. Now I realized that it was not an accident and the crow was really trying to harm me. That terrified me and at that age I couldn’t make out why. I was so terrified walking down the stairs that our house maid had to walk me down every time I left to school.
This happened one more time to me and after that the only time I was confident walking down the stairs alone was after dark. This went on for few weeks and one day while I was at school my aunt came home to visit us and the crow for some reason decided to attack her and this time it was serious as the crow’s beak made contact with her forehead and she started bleeding. That did it for everyone, the people around the house decide to end this and took the Crow’s nest from the tree and put it somewhere else. That stopped the crow attack forever.
When I came home and heard this, I was sorry for my aunt but was relieved that they had moved the nest from the tree. It is funny, come to think of it now as to how a crow terrified me like anything at that time. At that time I couldn’t figure out why the bird would do such a thing but when I think about it now, I feel that it was just trying to protect its nest. When I leaned over to look for the ball I was close to the nest of the bird which probably made the bird think that I was trying to harm it for some reason.
Well anyways whatever may be the reason it was such a weird incident and one which I could never forget. Anyways at that age I was relieved that I could walk down the stairs again with confidence and without fear. I guess the bird just acted out of fear at that point but a funny story nonetheless.
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Couple of days back there was a news flash which said actor Raghuvaran is no more. I was shocked at the news as there were no indication of his bad health. He was a fine actor with a wide variety of roles in Tamil cinema especially.
His best work includes movies like Puriyatha Puthir, Baasha, Mughavari, Run etc. He had his own style of acting and brought believability to the roles he played. Who can forget the role of a suspicious husband in Puriyatha Puthir or the Mark Anthony of Baasha. Whatever may be the character he played he always brought great value to the roles with his unique stlye of acting and dialogue delivery. His role as Madhavan’s brother-in-law in Run showed that he had great comic timing too and is one of my favorites of his performances.
He was and will remain one of the most versatile character artist in Tamil Cinema. He will be missed for sure.
Is Hindi our National Language?
Posted on: March 14, 2008
Is hindi our National language? The answer is “No”, Should it be our National Language? Again the answer would be “No”.India does not have a National language which not many Indians know(Including myself until last week). According to the National languages act of 1963 Hindi and English together was made the official language of communication for the central government. The act also mentioned that each state would have their own official language together with English. So according to the act people in TamilNadu, AP or in Gujarat need not know Hindi as thats not their state’s official language.
This is not a great situation though as I think that knowing the language is a great plus for every Indian no matter where he comes from. The reason why I said that Hindi should not be declared as our National language is because it may cause a huge regional clash and the people, not the politicians will be blamed for not knowing the language. I was lucky enough to grow up in Delhi, so can speak the language fluently but not all Tamilians have that luxury. The problem is that most of us do not know that Hindi is not our National Language and keep blaming the people from south for not knowing the same. Well now we have an excuse and reason for not knowing the language. People from North have to realise that not all Indians need to speak Hindi.
Being a Tamilian myself who can speak Hindi, I just think that by knowing the language my life has become little bit easy. I guess by knowing hindi it gives you more freedom to move around within India and makes life very simple when you travel abroad. Regional politics played by the politicians in TamilNadu has made sure that people from that state are discouraged to learn the language. We do have people who learn the language through their own efforts by giving “prathmic” exams and stuff but the number is too less. With the growing IT market and people moving to different parts of the country to work, it becomes easier if you can speak Hindi.
Unless and until the Govt can make sure that every state in India will cooperate and make learning Hindi madatory, we cannot even think of making it our National language. The possibility of that happening is very less as no sooner there is a talk about making hindi our National language there will be riots accross India. At least now we know that the people from different parts of India are not required to know that language and it boils down to personal interest to learn the same. When people used to say to me that every Indian should know Hindi as its our National language, I never had a defense against the same but now I do. Its not the mistake of any Indian that he cannot speak hindi but its the politicians and the respective state governments who deny us that chance.
Time Machine
Posted on: January 29, 2008
“If only I could go back in time” is a thought which goes thorough most of our minds at least once in our lifetime. There are lots of things in our life which we think we could have done little bit different in our life. There are lots of decisions in our life which we can reverse and correct when we find it’s not the right one for us and there are a few which cannot be made right and will haunt us for rest of our life.
I always thought that we have choices all the time and we get to pick the right one. People always blame God for all their failures and for all the bad decisions they make in life. For me it’s always us who are responsible for doing the right thing in life. I think God has put a state called “Confusion” in our minds so that it makes us think little bit harder when making those important decisions. Most of the time people like me believe in their instincts to make the most important decisions in life. As far as I am concerned till recent times I have really happy with most of my choices in life.
Even though I believe in destiny and all the things which I have mentioned earlier in this piece, I still wonder what it would be like if we had a time machine. I was recently watching “Harry potter and The prisoner of Azkaban”, in which Harry and Hermione go back in time to save couple of lives. This thought really fascinates me. People sometimes; make some decisions for which they have to struggle for life. I feel even if we have access to a time machine to change our decisions we need to have some conditions for use on the same, something like
1. You can only change couple of decisions in a period of 5 or 10 years.
2. You can only change a decision which was made couple of months ago and not beyond that.
The above two conditions are the ones which come to my mind immediately. Well I know that this is not possible and the problem of such an invention is that most of the time it will be put to use for wrong purposes. People will continue to be responsible for the decisions they make and that’s how God has intended the universe to operate. I guess God always shows us two doors, and we get to make the decision as to which is the right one. When we make decisions which can alter our lives, we need to take extra care on the same. The door which is easiest to get to may not always be the right one. I made such a decision few months back which may haunt me throughout my life.
While I wait for my time machine, I can’t help but wonder “If only I could go back in time”.
To the country I Love
Posted on: October 2, 2007
This is my first non cricket article.This article has been long time pending as I wanted to write this since I came back from my visit to India in February. I came to US to do my masters in 2003 and did not go back to India till the end of 2006. When I visited India in December of 2006, I was totally surprised with what I saw there. There was a huge cultural change since I left the country for studies in 2003. For the first time, I felt like an outsider in my own country. The outlook of the people had changed, the use of technology was enormous and the people were moving towards the mechanical life as we see here in America.
Before my visit to India last year I was hoping to meet my friends and relatives after four long years. When I eventually reached there the situation was completely different, No one had much time for me and I actually struggled to meet most of them. This is due to no fault of theirs though as all of them were busy with their hectic schedules. The other noticeable change I observed was the use of mobile phones in India. I have never seen mobile phones put to so much use anywhere as it is done in India. People keep receiving messages from their friends or just some forwarded jokes like every other minute. I was just fascinated by the same.
There are lots of new food chains, similar to what we have in the US and the spending limit of people in city has increased enormously. Couple of times when I was in some stores I was stunned with the ease with which people in India pay bills in thousands of rupees. This is obviously a good sign as it shows that the standard of living at least of the people living in the cities has increased. It was also great to see those huge malls and theaters similar to the ones in the US, where people can come in to watch movies, have food and also do some shopping all under the same roof. Even though the traffic still remained the same or to be frank had increased a little bit with more vehicles on the road and most of the times out of control. The traffic in Bangalore and Hyderabad were the worst and Chennai was just better in comparison.
My observations were only based on the cities I had visited during my stay in India and to be frank I liked what I saw in terms of infrastructure and the different mind set of the people. Even though there has been lots of changes in the last few years (mostly for the good), I still don’t know whether this can be termed as the overall growth of the country in itself. There were lots of things which still remained the same, such as kids running out of their huts when a train passes by. There are lots of people just in Chennai, who have to vacate their huts or houses if there is a cyclone. Kids in India still don’t have their basic necessities. When I was traveling to a temple via train, I was very disturbed to see so many kids who don’t even have proper clothes to wear, who can’t go to school and who don’t get proper food to eat. When I see such things it makes me respect my parents more as it’s because of them I am in a good situation.
I had a great childhood, great education, traveled abroad for studies and currently by god’s grace in a decent job. This is a great gift when you consider there are so many kids in India who don’t even have the basic necessities in life. Most of them have to work to even have some food everyday. When I was looking at these kids during my visit, I just told myself that I need to do something which will bring some change in the life of at least one of them. I told myself that I am lucky to be in this situation and it would be great if I can do something to bring a difference in someone’s life. I came back to US and the first thing I did was to find a trustworthy organization and decided to sponsor a kid for education, food and all other basic necessities. This is my first step towards giving something back to a country which has given me so much. We know that we cannot change the politicians or the government in India but what we can do is to make sure that we contribute in whatever way we can to make life better for these kids.
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