We went to Concord Mills Mall yesterday. Appu and Chini went on the Carousel.
இது குடை ராட்டிணம் போல. ஆனால் குதிரை சுற்றி வருவதோடு, மேலும் கீழும் நகரும். எங்கள் வீட்டருகே உள்ள கன்கார்ட் மில்ஸ் மாலில் உள்ளது.

Gurpreet Singh and his wife Abha visited us during the July 4th long weekend.

Gurpreet.

Onboard Kaayal Pura.

I watched the weekly episode of Chidampara Ragasiyam yesterday. This serial is the best 30 minutes of Sun TV currently; I try not to miss it. Everything is simply superb in that serial. The story, screenplay, cast, music, editing and even the credits. The way director links episodes is great. For those of you who don't know, it is a thriller based on Naadi Jothidam and cure for AIDS and revolves around a dozen murders.

For those who follow this serial, who do you think is orchestrating the murders? The unraveling over the last several episodes point to Kumaraguru (the magazine Editor) and Thulasi (his daughter). Given the directors superior skills, I doubt it will be that simplistic. The Editor and his daughter may just be a red herring. I am also not expecting the director to drop a new villain unknown to us. (like Rajeshkumar does in his popular crime novels) The best ending will be one where the villain is a conspicuous character, or at least known character, but we couldn't guess. It should be consistent with all prior episodes and should make sense in hindsight. Can't wait to see the rest.

In yesterday's episode, the forensic detective was showing the police inspector, Tamil script from 2000 years back on a tablet PC. That took me on a nostalgic journey. When I was a student at RECT during late 80s, during my weekend trips home I made it a habit to stop by Thanjavur temple, palace etc and spend some time. I got that interest mainly from my love of Kalki's classic Ponniyin Selvan. I was thrilled to roam on the same land where Rajarajan, Kundavai, Vallavaraiyan Vandhiyathevan, Vanathi and others walked. During that time, I made it a hobby to try to read the Tamil that is carved in walls, floors everywhere. To some extent, I was able to. Much latter (late 90s), I got hold of a chart that shows the evolution of Tamil scripts over centuries, see below.

Evolution of Tamil vowels over the centuries starting from 3rd century BC.

 Shiva said...

Amazing. A concise chart in size but gigantic in its content.

Shiva.

July 14, 2005 11:14 PM

Current Reading : The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Review soon.
Meera Nair's current project is based on this book.

At Freedom Park.

One day couple of weeks back, when I took Srinidhi to our swimming pool I found it was closed for a swim meet. Srinidhi was disappointed. Luckily we remembered this micro pool we got from India for Rs 200, which we never opened. None of the pumps here fit it, so I had to blow it by mouth :-(. Srinidhi is aiming his watergun at Jasmine in this picture.

ஆதலினால் காதல் செய்வீர் உலகத்தீரே

பல வருடங்களுக்கு பிறகு இன்று பாரதியார் கவிதைகளை பிரித்தேன்; முதலில் இந்த பக்கம் வந்தது.

காதலினால் மானுடர்க்குக் கலவி யுண்டாம்;

கலவியிலே மானுடர்க்குக் கவலை தீரும்

காதலினால் மானுடர்க்குக் கவிதை யுண்டாம்

கான முண்டாம் சிற்ப முதற் கலைக ளுண்டாம்;

ஆதலினால் காதல் செய்வீர் உலகத்தீரே

அஃதன்றோ இவ்வுலகத் தலைமை யின்பம்

காதலினால் சாகாம லிருத்தல் கூடும்;

கவலை போம் அதனாலே மரணம் பொய்யாம்.

(சுயசரிதை - 49)

Over the weekend, we took Kaayal Pura to the lake with our friends Muthukumar and family.

Us.

Our friends Usha, Vishnu, VIkash and Muthukumar.
நண்பர்கள். உஷா, விஷ்ணு, விஷால், முத்துக்குமார்.

Riding on the bow.

It is a common knowledge that politicos will go to any extend to expand their domain and add to their power even if it infringes on individual liberties. Their basic instinct is they are on this earth to guide the masses since they know better. I consider myself informed and aware of most of their effort to do so on things that matter to me. From time to time, they surprise me with their ingenuity. Consider this; all along they had been controlling the alcohol content in the beer I drink! (and I did not even know that) Now they are considering to increase it to 15% (from 6%). How dare they to decide what is appropriate for me? I understand when they try to control how much alcohol is allowed in a person that is driving; because it exposes somebody other than that person to danger. But controlling how much alcohol is the right amount in a beer?? That is pure arrogance. To top that, they thought about grabbing some more of my money when they allow me to drink stronger beer! I am indignant.

News artcile

Note : This is not about drinking, I do not drink much. I hardly buy a couple of six packs entire summer.

Note 2: May be I was drinking so little beer since they didn’t pack much punch :-). What’s the alcohol content of beers we had in India anyway??