View from my desk

Death in the Andes

2012-01-22T13:47:00.004+05:30

Read Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa's Death in the Andes this weekend. Besides some chapters from Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan, this was the first Peruvian novel that I read. So, it was with great anticipation that I started the book. If I read the book through to its end without letting many days pass, it means that I am enjoying either the writing style, the story or both. I read this book in two days and yes, I find the writing style engaging. However, the story is dark.. ancient, cannibalistic rituals and belief that are carried on in the present day - in varying forms, the militia, the civil guards, the dark potion brewers and the rest of the people who played into their hands. A story of a decaying society carried forth by people sacrificing other people's blood to prolong their existence conveyed through Corporal Lituma as the main protagonist trying to make sense of what was happening around him. The only light shining through the darkness is a tender love story narrated by one of the key protagonists - Tomasito Carreno, which reaches its happy conclusion - a ray of hope amongst the enveloping darkness.

While I didn't find the book thought provoking, it is an interesting read for someone who is starting to read South American literature. I kind of find it intriguing that both books that I read from that continent and particularly Peru, by two renowned writers, were very much focused on spirits and belief in communicating with and appeasing spirits.

Shatranj Ke Khilari

2012-01-21T19:21:00.004+05:30

I watched this 1977 Satyajit Ray movie today. Using the game of chess as a metaphor, it focuses on the ineptitude of the ruler and wealthier citizens of Awad to protect their land from the company and colonization. From the friendship treaty signed by the British with the Nawab's ancestors for providing human resources, money and land to expand the company conquests in India, the movie focuses on each move of the British until the check-mate point with the Nawab symbolically handing over his crown to avoid blood shedding of his people.

While the main theme is the game of chess played by the British and the rulers of India's various states, the story is taken along through two wealthy landowners of Awad - Mir Ali and Mirza Ali - who have become addicted literally to the game of chess to the extent that they are blind to what happens around them - they are indifferent to what is happening in their country, their state, their village and even their own home. This last point is pushed home by the glimpses of failed marriages in the lives of the two men due to their addiction to chess. While Shabana Azmi and Farida Jalal acted well their parts, it is a pity that an actress like Shabana Azmi was only provided a very small role but then again, the film did not have much room for women to act as it obsessively focused on the games of chess played by the two men as well as the larger game played by the colonizers and the rulers.

Overall, Shatranj Ke Khilari is a beautifully filmed movie by Satyajit Ray.

Tom Stoppard and Tropical Amsterdam

2012-01-20T07:01:00.011+05:30

This has become a tradition of sorts... my mother and I visiting the Galle Fort annually on a day trip during the Galle Literary festival. I choose the day and the key session that we will be visiting and perhaps, another fringe event and we are off at 6a.m. on the Colombo-Galle bus. Until our particular session time, we enjoy walking around the Galle Fort though the amount and distance we walk and explore has been on a decline in par with my mother's health.

This time I worried whether my mother would be physically fit to go on a full day's trip which included more than six hours on a bus trip (both ways inclusive) and sitting in hour-long sessions, her resolute nature was keen to continue this mother-daughter ritual and that she could make it through. So, we headed off yesterday - my mother in her neck collar that she has been wearing over the past year due to her ear imbalance issue as well as some neck/spine issues.

We reached Galle Fort a little before 10a.m. and as we had missed the bulk of the first session - a Galle literary festival panel with Dr. Izzeldin Abulaish, Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, Dr. Stewart Motha, Ingo Shulze on 'Forgiveness, Peace and Responsibility in Literature', we skipped it and walked across the street we had been dropped at - Church Street and visited the 19th century Anglican church built by the English before visiting Pedlar's Inn for some coffee. We then visited the 18th century Dutch Reformed Church (the oldest Dutch built church in the country) but dropped the idea of walking along the ramparts as we usually did as it was very sunny and returned to the main venue area around Halle De Galle where the garden chairs and the stalls had been set up. It was nice sitting under the shade of the trees and simply resting. Cargills Magic ice-cream had set up tables with 'make a mark' activity where they had placed ice-cream sticks and paints for anyone to paint their book-mark and take it with them. As the next session we were interested in was at 12.30pm. followed by our main session at 2.30p.m., we decided to have a quick lunch of sandwiches at the Heritage cafe (formerly, the Old Bakery).

Tropical Amsterdam was screened at Halle De Galle. Shyam Selvadurai, the curator of the Litfest presented the documentary. Stephen Labrooy, one of the key people interviewed in the documentary, responded to questions at the end of the screening. Tropical Amsterdam is a well filmed documentary from the perspective of some of the well-known elderly Burghers in Sri Lanka. The director's view that the future of the Burghers in Sri Lanka is bleak and that soon they will have no separate identity is mirrored through the witty takes of the interviewees on the colonial period, the traditions and customs of the Burghers, the mass-scale emigration in the 50s - 80s period, the feeling of discrimination(as Stephen Labrooy says about his buying property within the Galle fort, "I have had to prove over and over again that I am Sri Lankan despite the fact that I speak Sinhala. I finally had to go over to the authorities and say, 'Look, my ancestors built this fort 300 years ago. I have a right to purchase land here'", and the resignation that soon there will be no "Burgher" identity left in Sri Lanka. One of the interviewees in the documentary, a tea planter sums up why he chose not to emigrate when all their relatives have emigrated to Australia "It is better to reign in hell than rot in heaven". Overall, a very interesting, well-filmed documentary. It would have been great to include the younger generations' views as well because the documentary has a very resigned view - an air of having given up and it would have been good to see whether the younger generations feel that way as well.

During the short break in between the film screening and the session that we went all the way to Galle for, we decided to have a cup of Dilmah tea. Dilmah had set up a nice tea stall and the staff were making lovely, hot cups of Dilmah tea which was great to have at that time listening to some vibrant music being played in the garden. I later found that the musician was Dr. Eugene Draw, a Canadian electric violinist here in Sri Lanka for a performance at the Park Street Mews.

At 2.30p.m, the main session 'In conversation with Tom Stoppard on his life and art' started again with a brief introduction by Shyam Selvadurai who introduced both Stoppard and the moderator, Tracy Holsinger. Two plays that I fell in love with during my contemporary drama classes at university were Michael Frayn's Copenhagen and Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. For me, when a drama script engages me, I simply have to direct the drama and bring what I visualize in the words to life. I managed to direct Copenhagen but not Arcadia as I did not have enough cast members. What I admire most about Tom Stoppard's works are his witty play of words and how easily he manages to slip into the lives of the famous real-life characters he often brings into his plays and explores their views, by making the key protagonist a fictional character like Thomasina Coverly (supposedly based on Ada Lovelace) in Arcadia or an overlooked real life character like Henry Carr in Travesties. This is his unique style. While some plays may resemble other famous plays at a distance, like 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead' and 'Waiting for Godot', 'Travesties' and 'Copenhagen', their content is so vastly different and has Stoppard's trademark wittiness and story flow.

Here, at the Galle Literary Festival, he read passages of Bellinksy from his epic play 'Coast of Utopia', which I have neither seen or read and somehow was not too encouraged to experience, from the brief reading. What I liked more about the conversation was Stoppard rambling on about some of his experiences, responding to questions etc. He mentioned that he had received an invitation to do a reading in Australia in December and to Sri Lanka in January and that 'as it is best for divorced fathers to stay away from home during Christmas', he decided to take up both the readings. He also mentioned that as he landed in Sri Lanka, he received news that Havel had died and he had thought about going back for the funeral but decided that he would stay on in Sri Lanka.

A lot of questions from both the moderator and the audience was around Havel and his birth country, rather than his art and life as a playwright. The moderator also irked me a bit as she seemed too absorbed in sharing her own views and would take a lot of the brief time of the session in framing her views and questions.

At one point, Stoppard remarked to the effect that 'I don't ever write plays thinking of the academic point of view. I don't think of the message. Art cannot operate at that level. It needs to go beyond'. He also rhetorically questioned the audience, 'And you, bless your hearts, why are you here to listen to a playwright?', 'Drama cannot be learnt from texts, it has to be experienced' and he illustrated it with an example from a play where an actor runs off across the water where lights had been installed to respond to the touch and as he ran off, it slowly illuminated the scene and ended with fireworks as he disappeared in the distance and that the script in the play simply said 'Exit Ariel'.

At the end of the hour, I went and stood at the book signing queue, with my mother, to get my old copy of 'Travesties' and 'The Real Inspector Hound' signed by him. This was the second time that I have solicited writer autographs. The first was to get my copy of Copenhagen signed by Michael Frayn, also at the Galle Literary Festival a year or two ago.

Setting up a business - the basics

2012-01-14T10:46:00.003+05:30

For a year, I had been contemplating starting up my own venture and initiating the dream of self-employment. I finally decided to take some concrete steps and gave my notice at my workplace. From January 1st 2012, I was free to start up my own venture. While I knew what I wanted to do and I had experience doing what I wanted to do, I was not familiar with the protocol of setting up a business nor was I aware of the options. I had to read up a bit, go to various departments, talking to people before I got a sense of what needed to be done. As there is no information on these basics on the web, I thought of posting this for anyone who may be thinking of starting up a business in Sri Lanka. Hope this helps! : )

The very first step is to be clear about what you want to do and to be confident that you have the skills and can do what you want to do. From there on, it is basically the paperwork that needs to be in order.

Once you are clear about what your business is going to be, think through whether you need staff to carry out the work or can you manage on your own initially. Also, do you want your initial business investment to be small? Are you willing to take full liability or would you prefer there is a board of directors etc? These questions will help you decide whether you want to start up a sole proprietor business or a company.

As my business was providing research and consultancy services and undertaking social entrepreneurship projects and I wanted to start small, with minimal investment and gradually evolving as well as having the flexibility to take up full time jobs with other agencies, I decided to go for the sole proprietor option.

This is the easiest option to start off a business. Simply go to the Provincial council office of your respective province to the office for registration of business name and collect your form to register as an individual. You will need to pay LKR 1500 when you submit the form with the details of the name of your business, nature of business, postal address, contact number. Your business registration certificate will be ready for you in a day's time. Simple as that.

One hitch with the business registration certificate is that even if you submit the form in English, they give you the certificate in Sinhala or Tamil based on where your provincial office is. So, it is best to have it translated into English by a certified translator if you plan to work with organizations or companies where the working language is English.

Now that you have the business certificate, you can start working. : )

It is good to next look into the other basics:
While tax is only applicable once you reach a certain profit limit, it is good to have your tax file opened. For this, one needs to go to the Municipal council and fill out a form requesting a tax file to be opened. While the staff are not very helpful in explaining the process, what I gathered was that once the form is submitted, an assessment will take place before a recommendation for the file to be opened is given.

You will also need to have a bank account for whatever earnings you make and to be able to pay for any purchases you make under the business. This account needs to be in the name of the business and generally, business accounts are opened as a current account. Just remember that to open a current account in Sri Lanka, you will need to have another current account holder sign in certain places of the form as well as you will need to have a proprietor seal. This seal is specific in its design with the name of the business on the first line, space on the second line for your signature, followed by the words 'Sole Proprietor' on the third line. This seal will need to be small enough to fit the signature box on your bank form.

Now that you have your business registration, tax file, account, you may want to think about having a website particularly if you do not have an office presence. There is a wide range of options out there which can be quite confusing and I am still figuring my way around. Weebly.com offers a free website that you can set up yourself using their drag and drop editor. However, this service comes with a weebly.com suffix similar to the blogspot suffix so you may not want it for your business website. You could buy your own '.com' domain through weebly but it costs nearly USD 70/ year and is around the same price as other leading hosting sites which include the weebly editor.

The first thing you need to know about setting up a website is that you need to have a domain. You will need to purchase your domain which will be around USD 10 per year. The domain is what gives you your unique website address with a '.com' or a '.org' or a '.net' suffix. If you are good at creating websites, then all you need to do is purchase a domain name and then go about setting up your website directly. If you are like me and need help, then you can read through the various hosting options. I went through so many reviews and websites for various hosting plans before shortlisting three hosting sites - fatcow (referred to as a very popular site for several years), InMotion hosting (referred to as the premier business hosting site) and Hostmonster. Just be aware that the total cost of going with any plan does not stop with the amount cited by the company. There are usually add-ons that are offered at the time of registering and these are not stuff that you can ignore - particularly as they mention 'domain privacy', 'spam filters' etc. - and each adding another USD 10/year to your bill. I did decide to go ahead and experiment with a hosting site plan than hire a web designer which would cost more. Particularly as my requirement at this point is to share basic information about my business than to have a top-notch site or electronic payment facility embedded which will require a higher level of security access. You will need to play around the self-create buttons and experiment with your website. Help/ feedback from web-designer friends at this stage might be useful.

Finally, just so that you have a complete foundation laid - get yourself your business letterhead, business card, receipt books, some files to maintain your business documentation.

With that you have the basics covered and from there on, you can always upscale.

Good Luck!

GLF time again

2012-01-06T19:00:00.003+05:30

This year's festival has some interesting writers visiting. The one main session that I will be going for this time around will be the session of another of my favourite playwrights - Tom Stoppard. My favourite plays of his are Arcadia followed by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Wanted to direct Arcadia some years back but did not get sufficient cast members.

Galle Literary Festival 2011

2011-01-03T17:29:00.003+05:30

The annual festival is back. This time round, my one day at the festival will be saturday, Jan 29th. The session I am most interested in participating is Orhan Pamuk's session as well as the session moderated by Ashok Ferrey 'More than just a laugh'.

In remembrance of J.D.Salinger

2010-02-07T20:14:00.003+05:30

The first writing of J.D.Salinger I came across was the short story 'A perfect day for bananafish' which had me disturbed and thinking for days as did his other short stories.

I then came across Franny and Zooey and fell in love with the book and the characters in the book. It was also nice to connect the Glass family characters in the book to the short stories that I had read before. Then, I read 'Catcher in the rye'.

I searched for more books by J.D.Salinger whose writings had by then fascinated me a lot but didn't find anymore.

However, after his death last week, lots of articles have suggested the possibility of unpublished work.

While I strongly respect his decision and wish not to have any of his writings converted to movies, I hope that his unpublished writings, if any, will be published as they are gems that should not be lost to this world.

Gillian Slovo and Michael Frayn

2010-02-07T19:12:00.006+05:30

This time around, I decided to just go for two sessions on the final day of the Galle Literary festival on my way back from the whale watching trip in Mirissa. It was pouring by the time we reached the Galle fort, tired and hungry after our 7 hour sea trip. The session had already started when we walked up the steps to the hall at the Maritime museum and found a few seats at the end of the hall.

Gillian Slovo's Conversations on Guantanamo turned out to be a very interesting session, especially as I had not read any of her writings before nor had I ever heard her name before. What she shared about her play 'Guantanamo' and the way she described reconstructing the lives of the prisoners from the letters they sent home to their families was really engaging and has spurred me to find out more about the writer and her work.

After Gillian Slovo's session, we rushed to Halle de Galle for our next session 'Noises on'. Hungry, we decided to quickly get ourselves a bite from one of the food tents in the adjoining lawn. I decided to get a couple of vegetable rotis and a cup of hot tea but was shocked to be informed that two tiny rotis would cost 400 rupees. When I asked again thinking that I had not heard properly, the volunteer cashiers laughed and said that the prices at the festival was generally pricey. Fundraising is one thing but to sell something for ten times its original price is a bit too much. Disappointed, I got myself a cup of tea only and walked into Michael Frayn's session.

Frayn's session was THE session that I had wanted to go to as I was a fan of his play 'Copenhagen'. I had done a reading of his play for my contemporary drama course back in university and had been so taken up with the play that I had wanted to direct it. I managed to convince three of my co-students in the course - Adnan, Jakob and Misha - to act in the play and staged it as an abbreviated one act play at the Rotunda at Stockholm University one fine May evening. Having lived in the play for 2-3 months, I was very keen on meeting the playwright and even dug up my old and yellowed copy of the play so that I could have it autographed by the writer.

A tall and healthy looking elderly man walked up the stage and sat in his chair and tested the mike and started with an annecdote of a talk he gave at a university in Tasmania. Then, he went on to say that he had been surprised to see the heading for his session as he had come under the impression that he was going to talk about his serious plays - Copenhagen and Democracy. And, he decided that irrespective of the title 'Noises on' he would go ahead and speak about Copenhagen. I was thrilled.

Michael Frayn gave a short introduction to the context of Copenhagen and about the three characters in the play, Niels Bohr and his wife Margrethe and Heisenberg rising from their graves to try and answer a question that had mystified contemporaries and continues to be argued about by historians - the reason for the 1941 visit of Heisenberg to Copenhagen and his meeting with Bohr.

I have not ever before wanted to meet a writer of any of the works that I have read and loved reading but this chance encounter with Michael Frayn and listening to him talk about the play and how he went about constructing it was so moving. It was like hearing again a much loved story through the lips of a friend who has experienced it with you and was the one instrumental in bringing that experience to you. When he told the audience, 'I look at you. You look at me. What goes on in your head? I do not know. What goes on in mine? You do not know. We look at each other.' This was like a deja vu from Copenhagen. I loved it.

While I very much wanted to continue being there in the session, my friends were exhausted and wanted to return to Colombo and faced with the choice of travelling alone by public transport in the rains and reaching home by midnight and of returning with my friends in a car, I decided to be sensible and give up the rest of my session. At least, I was able to hear him speak about Copenhagen for 15 minutes.

Fortunately, I spotted a friend who was volunteering at the festival and gave her my copy of Copenhagen and requested her if she could have it autographed by Michael Frayn at the end of his session. She did so and I am waiting eagerly to receive it next week.

Galle Literary festival 2010

2009-11-09T05:16:00.004+05:30

Time flies... the festival is back again in 2 months. Saw a festival-related news on the paper. Fathima Bhutto will a guest speaker for a fund-raising talk leading up to the festival.

My highlight of the upcoming festival will be Michael Frayn. I loved reading and directing 'Copenhagen' for a university production.

Galle Literary Festival this year

2009-01-04T18:16:00.003+05:30

The annual festival this year will be from Jan 28 - 31.

I am very much interested in going to the following programmes:
(1) Where I escaped the tyranny of the typewriter - the tour of Taprobane island by its owner and the festival founder Geoffrey Dobbs. I have been interested in visiting this tiny private island off the coast of Matara where the rooms are rented out at exorbitant prices of over 100 dollars a night.

(2) Out of Africa - reading from Abyssinian chronicles and new writing from Africa by Moses Isegewa

(3) Time/Travel - Colin Thubron's recounting of his 7000 mile journey along the ancient silk road from China to eastern Turkey

(4) Beyond Schindler - Robert Keneally's talk about his other works

Joke of the week

2008-09-07T07:28:00.005+05:30

Last week, I received a book package from an editor of a journal. This was a journal for whom I had sent a book review earlier, at their request.

So, when I received a package, I assumed first that it contained the journal with my review published. Luckily, in time, I saw that the package was addressed to someone and C/o my name and address. I didn't know who this said person was but thought it may have been a mistake on the editor's part and that name had been inserted by mistake when it was actually for me. Especially since I had not been requested if it was ok with me to receive a book on behalf of someone else and hand it over to someone else and I didn't think anyone would be foolish enough to spend money and courier a book all the way from Canada to a wrong address in the other part of the globe.

Anyway, I decided to write to the editor and clarify before opening the package. I simply asked her what the package was, for whom was it and why has it been sent addressed to someone C/o me.

I got the funniest reply ever:
"Thank you for your message. Do you know E_ ? If so, the book is for her to review."

So, now I have a book in my hand without anyone to give it to. Might as well have a look at it myself or donate it to the local library.

I am not pleased anymore that my first academic book review will be published in that journal.

Poetry competition

2008-07-12T11:53:00.001+05:30

Anyone interested in writing poetry, the Poetry Society's 2008 competition might interest you.

Some beautiful photos

2008-06-14T11:27:00.001+05:30

from Sri Lanka... A talented friend's album...

The Last lecture

2008-04-12T05:54:00.005+05:30

by Professor Randy Pausch is a very touching and inspiring lecture delivered on September 2007.

I recommend all to watch these four videos: Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV which are on ABC news. The last lecture is an annual lecture at Carnegie Mellon, except that for Professor Pausch, it is more significant, as his doctors had said that he has only 3-6 months to live. The Last Lecture has also been published as a book and was launched on April 8 2008. His discussion with his co-author on Jeff Zaslow can be found here and his interview with ABC news from October 2007 to April 2008.

I wish the Professor the best in building the safety net for his family and that they will always appreciate his legacy.

You can find Professor Randy Pausch page on the Carnegie Mellon university website and his blog updates on his health.

His software project, Alice, which is a project that teaches computer programming to students, especially female students, in a 3D environment through creating animation for a story script.

Sad news: Professor Randy Pausch passed away at his home on July 25 2008. If you want to leave a message for his family, you can do so at the Last lecture blog.

Remains of the Day

2008-01-09T18:48:00.000+05:30

I saw the movie when it had been released years ago before I read Kazuo Ishiguro's book this month. I recalled the pace of the movie had been slow and had had a stuffy atmosphere. The book too was the same.

On completing the book, I felt a sense of sadness for the protaganist who had lost the most important part of his life in his fixedness with his duty and realises it only when it is too late.

The writer chose well to choose the profession of butler for his central character to illustrate the stuffiness and constraints of a life focused too much on details within the profession, while missing out on the living.

Sommarnatt leende

2008-01-09T12:33:00.000+05:30

Or, Smiles of a summer night.

Funny that the three years that I lived in Sweden, I never bothered to watch a Swedish movie and yet when I came across a Swedish movie at my DVD store last month, I had enthusiastically bought it. I guess I was also interested in watching a movie directed by the famous Ingmar Bergman. Anyway, treated myself to the movie last night.

A slow moving comedy of mixed matches and each character finding their correct partner in the end. With all the eight characters portrayed as devious and out to get what they want from relationships and having a surprising outspokenness when discussing love or marital relationships, I was surprised at the difference in approach from the American and Indian movies I had seen from the period. The actors and actresses were theatrical in their acting, especially as if they were acting on a stage, and therefore their characters were a little wooden and it would have helped had they acted more naturally thereby enhancing the story.

I wonder whether the house that was used in the movie is the house of Prins Waldermarsudde, the uncle of the current King of Sweden, and now a museum.

Kalki

2008-01-09T11:21:00.001+05:30

When I saw that there was a translated book of Kalki's short stories on the Penguin website, I had immediately decided to get hold of that book.

Kalki, for those who don't know him, is a Tamil writer who took the world of Tamil writing by storm in the 20th century. I remember that my mother said she had read his works avidly during her school days. I myself had not read any of his writing and one look at the humungous novel 'Ponniyin Selvan' threw me off reading it in Tamil. So, it was a pleasure to be finally introduced to the work of a prominent writer in Tamil literature.

This particular book, is a selection of his short stories from the 129 short stories that he had written in his lifetime (1899 - 1954) and translated by his granddaughter Gowri Ramnarayan. Gowri Ramnarayan states in her introduction to the book that she had started translating some of the short stories so that her children could experience the writing of their great grandfather and as they had found reading his Tamil difficult. She also gives a nice sketch of her grandfather's life and how the pseudonym 'Kalki' was derived from the first letter of his writing mentor Kalyanasundara Mudaliyar and the first letter from his own name Krishnamoorthy.

A thinker and writer living in the pre and post independence era of India would have been greatly influenced by the prevalent reformist thoughts of the time and most of the selected short stories seem to have a social message pertaining to the social evils of that period: from the need for education for all women (The letter), to the abolishment of the caste system (The poison cure), in support of the freedom struggle movement (The big swelling sea, Madatevan's spring) and against suicide attempts by young lovers (The ruined fort).

Throughout his stories, there seems to run a light playfulness. Even in the above short stories written with a social message in mind. When Annapurani Devi, the founder principal of Devi Vidyalaya - a school for women, confides in her younger colleague the reason behind why she embarked on her path of studies and felt that all women had to learn to read first, the reason that she had been unable to read a missive given her by her lover had resulted in losing out on the relationship, seems to be so pathetic and trivial that I felt the writer was at once laughing and yet sad about the state of affairs.

He also embarks on light satire in the Governor's visit, Rural fantasy and The tiger king.

I guess the reader of today would find the messages in the story obsolete and simplistic today but for the reader who would be interested in learning more about the prevalent social issues of Tamil Nadu and Tamil writing during that period would be rewarded.

The Yacoubian Building

2008-01-09T08:25:00.002+05:30

I was glancing at the backcover of a book displayed at the cash counter at a book&CD store in a mall in Amman during my October visit, while waiting for my purchase to be processed, when the cashier said, "You should read that book. It is really good and will give you a complete insight into the Arab's way of life and especially an understanding of the women and why things are the way they are now."

With this strong recommendation, I glanced again more seriously at the back cover to see what the novel was about and whether it did tackle in some way the lives of Arab women. It did have a high blown statement, "This controversial bestselling novel in the arab world reveals the political corruption, sexual repression, religious extremism, and modern hopes of Egypt today." It went on to describe a building and the various residents of that building.

For the enthusiastic young cashier, who probably had never read that book and was practicing her sales skills, and for the nose ring she wore, I decided to go ahead and buy the book, translated into English by Humphrey Davies. Moreover, I have not had the opportunity to read any novel written by an Arab writer.

Simply put, the Yacoubian Building is primarily focussed on sexual interactions and how women are viewed by the male characters in the book as sexual objects and the female characters themselves viewing themselves as such. That the book presumes to give an indication of 'modern hopes of Egypt today' is I feel an overstatement given the limited focus of the novel.

However, the writer has a certain talent for satire, the way he presents his characters as if he is laughing at them all the time. I also liked the writer's personal opinion coming out when he puts the satire in hideous Hagg Azzam's thoughts, after he has successfully divorced his second wife without even providing a decent alimony and after having forced her to abort their child without her permission, "As a man will flick off with his fingers a few flecks of dust that have clung to the breast of his smart suit and continue on his way as though nothing has happened, so Hagg Azzam got rid of Souad Gaber and was able to erase his affection for her... Beautiful poor women were in good supply and wedlock was holy, not something anyone could be reproached for."

Also, while the author makes fun of the central character of Zaki Bey throughout the book, he has a change of heart towards the end and decides that his character will be redeemed and have a happier ending than the rest of the characters in the book.

Excerpts from Alaa Al Aswany's book is given here.

A quite interesting reading into the lives of the characters who lead miserable lives, especially the female characters.

Delhi

2008-01-09T07:33:00.000+05:30

An absorbing historical novel by Khushwant Singh on the history of the city from the Moghul invasions to 1984. The past and the present are linked nicely and gives the reader a good view of both at the same time. I couldn't put down the book once I had started it and read through the day till I came to the end.

I loved the way that the guide would take some of his clients to a site and tell the summary of the story behind the ruins and the next chapter would take the reader back to the time when the ruins were flourishing living areas. I also loved the thoughtfulness that the writer had put into introducing characters at different levels of society, from kings and queens to labourers and sweepers, at each point when the past is brought to life, thus bringing the reader awareness of how the society as a whole existed, rather than focus on only one section of the society.

It was interesting to read the character of Aurangzeb treated favourably in the novel, while Shah Jahan and his eldest son Dara's character not so favourably treated, in contrast to popular fictive takes on idolizing Shah Jahan and vindicating the son who became the successor to the throne. The writer choses to do this by showing that ruling families will always be fraught with survival of the fittest which they do so by eliminating potential competition, their own siblings. In light of this, he suggests that when Aurangzeb came to the throne by killing his two brothers and imprisoning the third, Murad, for life and confining his old father to the confines of the Agra fort, along with his eldest and youngest sisters for the remainder of their life, he was doing what his line of ancestors had been doing so, including his own father, and thus he could not be looked upon as a tyrant king. He also further goes to highlight the fact that he was the first and only ruler who choose not to live the royal life the royal way but lived meagerly on his own earnings from the sale of the religious books he copied in his own hand, while treating state wealth as being in his custody for the state and not for his own pleasures. Neither did he maintain a harem as was the trend of the Mughals. It was an interesting insight into a character who has been blackened in history and provides a angle which seeks to show the personal traits which governed his actions. Even the demolition of places of worship other than Islam was explained by his devout Islamic upbringing and his concern that his father and brothers were deviating from a life that should be inherent for a good Muslim and he felt that as a ruler he had to show all his subjects that Islam was the only religion of God.

What is special about the book is that while the writer has clear feelings about the characters he brings to life through his writing, he justifies the actions of each in their lives by recreating their upbringing, their personal paths in lives which brings them to a particular place and action in time, thereby inviting the reader to not judge but simply observe the historical passing moments.

The book also manages to link the actions in the past with results in the future. The killing of a Sikh Guru in the past resulting in a movement centuries down the line, vowing revenge and the actions of later day leader of India, Indira Gandhi to quench this rising with violence leading to her own assassination, which in turn results in the state supported killings of Sikhs living in Delhi.

The story also highlighted the toils and labours and petty vanity that human beings put into their brief existence on this earth and that it is meaningless in the passing of time and yet, history continues repeating its horrors and power struggles and power hungry individuals bring up some historical incident to justify their actions to the rest of the world, while it is pure greed or sadly mistaken logic that drives them on to destruction. Yet, life goes on and these human made destructions a drop in the continuing violence in the existence of human beings. And, will the earth continue tolerating these violations on her?

A story very well handled by the writer and the language flawlessly flowing to create visions of the past.

I now look forward to getting hold of Khushwant's Singh more famous book 'A train to Pakistan'.

Family Matters

2008-01-08T20:40:00.000+05:30

The interesting novel by Rohinton Mistry weaves around the life of Nariman Vakeel in his last days. It delicately shows the family antagonism and sympathies built resulting through past actions, all the while managing cleverly to provide several angles to each character so that it prevents the reader from judging anyone or drawing conclusions on the good or the bad.

A sensitive novel with a good story. Story telling and language could have been improved to make the novel an all time classic. A good introduction to the Parsi community in Bombay is also provided through the story.

What I enjoyed most in the book is the portrayal of each character: that of Nariman Vakeel, a retired english professor, regretting the wrong decision he made in his marriage due to parental pressure resulting in disastrous consequences in his life and his final days spent in contemplation of his happier days; the sensitivity of his grandson Jehangir Chenoy who sees all and understands all; the outwardly rebellious but inwardly gentle grandson Murad; his favourite daughter Roxanna who takes care of him in his bedridden state as only a loved family member could and would do; his angry stepdaughter, Coomy Contractor, who has not forgiven him for the sadness he brought into their lives and takes desperate and sad measures to take revenge finally in his last days resulting in sad results for herself; Jal Contractor, his peace loving stepson who wants to forget the past and move on but cannot do so with his stronger sister dictating his every action.

Each character that is introduced in the book does not vanish away but have themselves given definite form, feelings and thoughts.

An enjoyable book and look forward to reading A fine balance.

An interview with the author by Linda Richards is given here.

Galle Literary Festival again

2008-01-08T19:52:00.000+05:30

Speaking of Karen Roberts' book, the author will be at the Galle literary festival next week. Had wanted to go to the literary festival this year, though I had not been interested last year when the festival was initiated.

However, reading that Alexander McCall Smith would be there and having enjoyed greatly the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency during my last long recovery days in 2005, thought it would be nice to drop in for a day or two at least, if not for the full four days. Alas, with my recent surgery, will not be able to make it.

Some of the writers who will having sessions at the festival are William Dalrymple, Vikram Seth, Shyam Selvadurai, Ashok Ferrey, Karen Roberts etc.

The festival passes, like last year, is monstrously priced for adults yet very reasonably priced for students. At least promoting students to experience a literary festival is good. Hope they will make use of the perks offered them.

July

2008-01-08T18:56:00.000+05:30

After starting the book in late 2006 and beginning to enjoy the first few chapters, somehow got stalled in completing the story in its early stages and never felt like returning to it until last night. Renewed my interest for the book and finished the story today.

Thanks, Emma, for the book.

What I like about Karen Roberts' book is the flavours of Sri Lanka, especially Colombo, that is captured in the book. Sri Lanka of the late 70s, early 80s. The cooperative rations, the residents of Araliya Gardens, New Year customs, exchanges with neighbours, interactions within the family, the inherent prejudices unspoken yet prevalent. All are realistically portrayed. While I am surprised at some parts, the parts which seem to imply that it was a common thing then for girls to have boyfriends and vice versa once they reached their teens and the parents worrying that something was not normal if they were not in a relationship and wonder at the authenticity of the portrayal, yet as those parts are directed at the particular characters and not a generalisation, it is acceptable.

At the same time, there are some parts that irk me a bit: the way the author always feels compelled to explain her statement after she has introduced something unique to Colombo. As if she is always conscious that the reader is not familiar with what she is referring to when she is saying something. Which also implies she wrote with a non Sri Lankan reading audience in mind. If the second is forgivable as one must have a particular audience at least in the back of one's mind, when one begins a story, the first is simply an annoying trait for a writer. When the author breaks into the story every few pages to explain away the customs being followed by the characters in the story, instead of the story allowing itself to play out as it actually does but for these superfluous interruptions of the writer.

The book will certainly be special reading for Sri Lankans, especially those who have lived in Colombo for a considerable number of years.

While the story is named July and while the reference to the Black July day automatically leads the reader to expect a sad story revolving around one of the saddest days of Sri Lanka and the story does end with that black day, it is essentially a story about two families and their respective travails and growing up of their children. It nicely captures the Sri Lankan Colombo life of the late 70s and early 80s and by focusing on these two families, finishes with a question how could so much have dissolved into so little in one day. And yet, the writer provides the answer through the story of these two families and their interactions between themselves and others.

The loveable character of the toddy tapper captures this in his question to the two young childhood friends and later lovers, Priyanthi and Niranjan, "Brave words, but think hard. You are talking about something that is not acceptable in our small minded society. It is completely, totally abhorrent. Not only will they not consider it, they will do everything in their power to prevent it. Remember, you won't only be battling two families, you will be taking on an entire country and a few centuries of prejudice. Can you do it? Are you strong enough? Is your love strong enough?"

While a quarter of a century later, social acceptance of such mixed ethnic marriages has improved, the inherent prejudice of other ethnic groups that is hardly spoken out in public but still existing as a dark and deep growth in the internal caverns of most Sri Lankans has not changed.

But, individuals try, at least some. For that, one must be thankful.

Movie marathon...

2008-01-02T21:10:00.000+05:30

With a leg recovering from a surgery on the 24th, had no option but to watch movies. Had a movie marathon weekend, when a friend dropped off a dozen DVDs on saturday morning.

Liked Life is beautiful the most. A very beautiful and sad story of a very beautiful person. Clever scriptwriting and good direction. For all those who haven't seen this Italian movie yet, please do see it and enjoy the beautiful experience.

Johnny English: Was a hilarious movie, especially for someone cooped up in the house. I enjoyed it a lot, except for the gross part where English climbs up the sewer pipe.

Chronicles of Narnia. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe: I had read some of the chronicles of Narnia as a teen and enjoyed watching the movie and revoking a childhood pleasure. Nicely done movie.

Jumanji: Enjoyable movie like Johnny English.

Flyboys: A movie about a group of boys who train to be part of the airforce of France during world war I. The story revolves around why each of them joined the airforce and as usual in war movies, the growing up of the group and each one showing their courage. The saddest story is that of the American pilot who falls in love with a French girl and who finds her twice, the second time rescuing her family and sending them off to safety and they promise that they will reunite in Paris after the war but at the end, the movie concludes with the statement that he never finds her again. What is nice about the movie's approach is that it does not take sides of the war though it is about a group of Allied forces' pilots, rather that it doesn't matter who wins at the end of the day, it is lives that have been lost in vain on both sides.

Swiss Family Robinson: The book is certainly more interesting and realistic than the movie of the shipwrecked family. In the movie, the family takes to their shipwrecked state as simply as they have been living in the wilderness all their life. Building state of the art tree houses, hunting, farming etc. Story very unrealistically adapted to the movie, in terms of the time taken for the family to adapt themselves to their new environment and fight off pirates. At the same time, what is nicely done is the family portrayal, the closeness, the bickering and the jealousy between the two brothers over a girl who they rescue.

Six days and Seven Nights: Another deserted island story but not half as nicely done as the Swiss Family Robinson.

Robin and the Seven Hoods: An old musical highly recommended by my friend but had trouble sitting through it. Eventually fast forwarded most of the songs.

Insomnia: Didn't like this movie at all. Was a tiresome movie which dragged on and on. Found Robert De Niro and Robin Williams so routine in their acting that it was quite boring to watch them. Ploughed through to the end, simply because I don't like to give up midway on a story, be it a movie or a book.

Live Aid Concert 1985 and Aloha from Hawaii 1973: Just fast forwarded most of the songs.

November review...

2007-11-24T18:14:00.000+05:30

Though I watched these movies back in November, only found the mood and time to write about them now. Having found a nice DVD store, with a good selection of English movies, at the top of the road where I work in October, I started getting into the habit of buying movies more frequently.

Having wanted to see some of Alfred Hitchhock's movies, after reading good reviews of them in Jabberwock's blog, I finally found a couple in my store. One was 'Topaz' (1964), the movie adaptation of Leon Uris book of the same name. It was quite interesting as the book was.

The other movie that I watched was 'Rear window' (1959), a story about a photographer (James Stewart) who is forced to spend a couple of weeks in bed rest after fracturing his leg and he spends the time seated at the window of his room and amusing himself by watching the neighbourhood windows. One night as he is drowsily watching the windows, he hears a scream and then he sees the man living in the apartment opposite going with different tools into the bedroom where his invalid wife stays. This leads to his suspicion that she has been murdered and he tries to enlist the help of his girlfriend (Grace Kelly) and a police friend to find evidence to prove his suspicion. The movie though moves quite slowly and except for the parts where there was realistic portrayal of a patient bound to a wheel chair with a plastered leg (the terrible itching inside the plaster that one has to get rid of and in the movie, the photographer uses a long thin wooden spoon, the sores on the back that can only be soothed by lotions or eau de cologne etc.), I didn't like the movie much.

I also was happy to find a copy of Schindler's list (1993), a movie I had been long wanting to see and I found it touching as expected. Good acting by Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley and Raplph Fiennes. I saw another movie of Ralph Fiennes right after Schindler's list, Sunshine (1999), the story about three generations of Hungarian Jews and the family members who survived the Holocaust. Sunshine or Sonnenschein refers to the family name and also the label of alcohol brewed by the father of Emmanuel, who leaves his village as a boy after the death of his father and establishes a life in a new town. His two sons and his niece decide to change their name to Sors so that they can keep in with the general Hungarian public and not proclaiming their Jewish heritage. The descendants face the gradual changes in public attitude towards Jews and lose several family members during the Holocaust with only Emmanuel's son, niece and great grandson surviving the wars. The great grandson decides to change his name back to Sonnenschein and accept his Jewish heritage and his great grandfather's words of wisdom that a Jew must not seek position or desire power. He also unknowingly throws away the lost recipe book of the Sunshine brew that various family members at different times had searched for, as he clears the family home of all its old furniture and books after his grandmother's death, and his realization that life is not about finding the secret recipe to Sunshine but about accepting and living in the present.

Mr. & Mrs. Iyer

2007-09-12T05:58:00.000+05:30

Against her mother's advice of postponing her travel by one day, Meenakshi sets off with her child, Santhanam, for Calcutta to join her husband and her inlaws. Her trip starts with a bus journey and then a train travel to reach her destination. Her parents tell one of her co passengers in the bus, Raja Chowdhury, who happens to be a friend of one of their acquaintance, to help their daughter during the trip.

The movie then provides a glimpse of the passengers in the bus, an old couple, a group of teenagers singing most of the way, two men talking about the partition, a mother and her differently abled son, a newly wed couple, a grumpy man, his wife and sister, a group of friends who drink and play cards at the back of the bus, their individual characters highlighted well. Meenakshi gets to know that Raja, a wildlife photographer and who helps her a lot in keeping Santhanam from crying, is actually a Muslim and being a conservative Brahmin with prejudices, she feels angry that she has drunk water from his bottle etc.

As there is a road block on the way, the bus takes another route but finds that there is a long queue due to which they have to wait. The reason for the queue is nicely brought out by the script and the direction, as each passenger slowly gets off the bus and talks with passengers in other buses and how information gets distorted in passing is well highlighted by the reasons that are exchanged for the long queue: a derailed train that has killed 200 passengers, a tribal fight etc. Until the police patrol arrives on the scene and orders them all into their vehicles stating that a curfew is being enforced because of a riot between the Hindu and Muslim community, in the predominantly Hindu locale.

The movie has nicely captured human reaction to riots and the transformation of Meenakshi's prejudices to a positive acceptance of religions and human beings by the time she reaches Calcutta is the main storyline.

Aparna Sen, the director, deserves praise for a good story nicely filmed. The actors too, especially the main characters Raja Chowdhury (Rahul Bose) and Meenakshi Iyer (Konkona Sensharma), have played their roles to perfection.

Definitely recommend the film as a 'must see'.

Kabul Express

2007-03-11T08:17:00.000+05:30

A first for Bollywood: a no-song two-hour movie of a ride from Kabul to the Pakistan border. That said, there was an artificial feel to the movie that didn't allow the viewer to connect with the characters.

While I have never considered John Abraham's acting brilliant, I have always looked forward to his movies, as he sure has a discerning eye for a good story. Saaya, Water, Kabul Express... I think a lot depends on the director, in bringing the script to life.

Nonetheless, Kabul Express is a good venture into more realistic movies with good, new story lines.

Kamla Bhasin

2007-03-09T07:51:00.000+05:30

Two hours with the dynamic lady was a treat on the International Women's Day.

Kamla started her discourse on 'gender-based violence - ending impunity' with an outright attack on the term 'gender' as a sanitized version invented by intellectuals to molly-coddle power structures and not make anyone feel uncomfortable. She emphasized it by stating that 'yes, gender-based violence: men bash up women and women bash up men. It is a fact that 99% of gender-based violence is violence against women. So, we might as well call a spade a spade and call it violence against women.'

While I agree 'gender' is often used in a non-confrontational manner, it helps to make an entry point into circles where otherwise one would not be allowed if it were outrightly stated as 'violence against women'. My own experience of coordinating a gender-based violence project was that I only managed to get a group of key service providers working together by projecting a neutral stance that we would without bias consider violence against men and women and not just women. I strongly feel that we don't achieve much by attacking existing beliefs, rather it is more beneficial to encourage self-examination by more peaceful means. Human traits simply does not allow for attacks on one's ego and it is a rare individual who sees the root of the verbal attack, analyses and challenges themselves to change. Therefore, I tend more towards peaceful means of self-examination and change.

One example Kamla quoted stays in my mind. She described a factory that was referred to as a 'maiming' factory because one worker or other lost a limb, whilst working there, due to the bad design and working environment. A committee was appointed to examine the cases and they recommended the building of a hospital outside the factory to treat the survivors. She drew a parable to it by the current trend towards improving service-providers for gender-based violence survivors than the emphasis on the root conditions and that we, who were in the room, was the committee who recommended the hospital. Since it hit close to home, I have considered it deeply but I still think improving services and coordination provided for survivors by medical, police, legal etc. services should be developed in sync with addressing root causes. One cannot be left to stagnate at the expense of the other.

Kamla sprinkled her talk with humorously rendered poignant stories from her friend Mr. Gautam Buddha's era and the man from the Middle East, the two of whom she considered feminists. One point she made was that we cannot judge anyone from today's society for their actions taken 1000 or 2000 years ago in the then-existing social conditions. She brought it closer to her own experience, when she said young feminists in India have complained that she did not speak of lesbian rights 30 years ago and she said that in the society she lived in, in the 70s, this was not a prominent issue and what was burning concerns then made its way to the table of the feminists of the 70s.

She concluded with a salute to all the feminists over centuries on whose shoulders women's rights have travelled so far and developed. She added, "After all these years, what have we reaized? That we have left the men behind in a state of backwardness and it is time to develop them as well."

a dream of a travel

2007-02-11T08:38:00.000+05:30

my dreams crumble
what does it matter?
at least your dream
will be fulfilled.

Space to grow...

2007-02-10T17:34:00.000+05:30

Don't destroy me as a person
I need room to grow, space to breathe
This world is big enough for your aspirations and mine
Don't restrict my freedom

Your needs and mine may be different
Don't place boundaries on me
Simply because you think
I am overstepping your bounds

Your views and mine are different
Try to respect the difference
And allow me space to explore
My path, without shutting the gates

I am a person who defines my path in this world
I listen to my inner voice and go where it leads me
Don't force me to take any path
That you want me to traverse

Let me live and have the space to grow

Agron Dragaj and his photography exhibition

2007-02-10T10:04:00.000+05:30

I happened to come across the photography exhibition of Agron Dragaj, when I walked into the restaurant of the hotel I was staying at, during my visit to Trincomalee this week. I had briefly been acquainted with Agron, through work a couple of years ago, and knew that he was a rock fan, who had managed to put together an ensemble with his co-workers and friends and played music every weekend. I recall they even recorded some original creations. It was nice to see his other interest on display. Agron said that the exhibition, which would go on till Feb 11th, was also an auction and that the proceeds would go for charity. The photos were of people he had photographed during his work in Jaffna and Trincomalee and also of tourist places of Sri Lanka, like the Southern beaches. There were also some nice photos taken during his travels in Europe. The photos from Sri Lanka were almost all bidded for and some of the hot picks had passed the LKR 5,000 mark.

I think each time I went to the restaurant, I spent some time at the exhibition and trying to decide which one I was going to bid for. I finally went for the portrait of a Spanish woman. If I win the bid, Inna, that photo is for you... I think you will like it the most.

For those who would like to visit Agron's online photo gallery: please visit here

Kathak at the ICC

2007-01-29T21:39:00.000+05:30

I had come across in the Sunday paper yesterday, the news of the Kathak performance at the Indian Cultural Center today and had decided to go. The morning however started with a splitting headache and I was wondering, as the day progressed, whether I should not just go home and rest after work, instead of going to dance performances. Anyway, ended up going to ICC and the security guard showed me the garden behind the center, where there was a tent put up. The chairs under the tent faced an open door, within which a lighted space could be seen. A carpeted area just inside the doors, where there were some people seated facing the other end of the room, where it was uncarpeted and ready for the performance of the evening. Some cushions had been arranged along the side of one wall in the performance area for the tabla, sitar, harmonium and saarangi players to sit. Sitting first in the chairs outside, we wondered whether it wouldn't be better to be seated inside on the carpet, as the chairs were so far away from the 'stage'. Finally, I decided to brave the floor, despite the difficulty I face in sitting on the floor after my accident and my colleague and I sat right in the front rows.

It was wonderful to hear live and beautiful Hindustani music and see the grace of Geetanjali Lal and her students. The performance began with a solo by Geetanjali Lal, followed by a performance by her daughter-in-law, Vidha Lal. This was followed by an enchanting performance by a couple. Next came the dance of two friends and the evening wrapped up with a performance of all five of them together, performing a dance of Shiva.
Geetanjali had a truly mobile and expressive face, despite her age. The finale was the one I enjoyed most with all five of them dancing together for a dance of Shiva.

Sarala at the Oscars

2007-01-28T11:54:00.000+05:30

Congratulations to Deepa Mehta and her team for making it to the final five nominees for Best Foreign Film.

The Sunday papers here in Sri Lanka have been headlining the news that Sarala will be the first Sri Lankan to go to Hollywood. Apart from the glamour part of it all, I am happy that Water has been chosen and that Sarala is representing the movie at the Oscars. It is a beautiful movie and the child's acting was wonderful.

On a side note, a sign of globalism and disappearing boundaries is that this Hindi-speaking movie, with a mostly Indian cast and an International crew, is Canada's entry.

For some of my favourite scenes in the movie, see here.

Erik Truffaz in Colombo

2007-01-28T07:01:00.000+05:30

On a whim, I got some tickets for the Erik Truffaz Quartet concert at the British School Auditorium in Colombo yesterday night. The Quartet - Erik Truffaz, Christophe Chambet, Malcolm Braff, Marc Erbetta - had been touring India and had been brought for a short visit to Sri Lanka by Alliance Francaise. I had not listened to much jazz, except for a little of Miles Davis and John Coltrane but was interested in listening to some contemporary jazz, specially fusion. I was happy to see that they had invited tabla and sitar guest performers. It turned out be an enjoyable event but it didn't start out that way.

I had got tickets for two other friends who also wanted to go for the concert but two hours before the concert, one bailed out. A last minute invitation was extended to the mother of the other friend, who really enjoyed jazz but arriving at the gate, the security stopped us and said we were not in their list of cars allowed to park inside and there was no arrangement for parking for others. We had to circle the neighbourhood and finally seeing all the nearby alleys filled with cars which had been parked for the concert and the time well past 7p.m., when the concert was supposed to start, my friend's mother said that she would just drop the two of us and go home. So, feeling a bit upset and very much annoyed with the organizers, we went inside the school to see a long queue, looking dejected at the door as the auditorium was filled and they had no seats. Luckily, I had bought some reserved seats so we didn't have to wait in the queue. As we were going to go inside, I had a brainwave and told the Alliance Francaise staff at the door that we had an extra ticket and if anyone in the queue was interested, she/he could buy it. There had been a European who had been pleading with them to let him go inside but had been refused. So, they called him and he was so happy. He said that he had come all the way to Sri Lanka for the concert!

The concert had not started and as we were sitting down, my friend and I were saying that we could not plan anything in future with the other friend who had bailed out in the last minute. I just commented that probably it was in the stars of the guy whom we had sold our extra ticket to, that we would come along with an extra ticket. And, hence all the obstructions to us earlier. I didn't think what I said was rude and I didn't think I said it loudly but the guy disappeared after a short while to go to the non-reserved seats at the back and my friend says it was probably because he heard my comment. I was surprised but then even if what I had said had driven him off the seat, at least what I did allowed him to come inside the auditorium and enjoy the music.

Raoul Wallenberg

2007-01-21T12:38:00.000+05:30

The story of Paul Rusesabagina reminded me of another man, whom I consider a true hero from the WWII days: Raoul Wallenberg.

I first came across the name, when I went for a walk around Lidingo, Stockholm exploring the island, during my first days there and I came across a bronze statue: a profile of a tall man in a huge overcoat and hat, with his hands clasped behind his back, holding out passes and lots of hands reaching out from the ground for the passes. A leaflet at the information center described the statue as a memorial for Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who had saved thousands of lives in Hungary during the Nazi invasion in WWII.

That information spurred me to read more about this man, who was born in Lidingo in 1912, into one of the most famous, wealthy and powerful Swedish families. An architecture graduate, a business man by profession, having travelled extensively and fluent in many languages, he accepted a diplomatic appointment for the Swedish Legislation as special attache for humanitarian concerns and arrived in Hungary in July 1944 determined to save the 200,000 surviving Jews. He had formal personal authorization from the Swedish Foreign Ministry to grant Swedish political asylum for documented victims of persecution. Read more on his biography here and here.

By his uncoventional efforts, which surely must have shocked his own Government, Raoul saved the lives of over 100,000 people but tragically, when Soviet Union's army entered Hungary after defeating Germany, he was taken as a POW by the Soviets on January 17th, 1945 and died in their custody, though the mystery remains as to the exact circumstances of his death and the year.

Hotel Rwanda

2007-01-21T07:48:00.000+05:30

Saw Hotel Rwanda last night. Paul Rusesabagina, the former house manager at Hotel Mille Collines, is certainly an admirable and brave person. Where most would lose their courage and try to save themselves and their immediate family, it was remarkable that he managed to save hundreds of lives, with his intelligence. Keir Pearson wrote a remarkable script, that really bring out all aspects of a country experiencing civil war and how very quickly events can lead to a genocide. The substantial power of the international community and the powers that be, and how when the international conscience is silent, unbelievable terror can be unleashed within a short span. The power of the media and the need for social responsibility without fueling hatred for the newspaper, radio and television companies is well highlighted. Above all, the moments that raise individuals above their common existence and how they are transformed to heros is what makes the movie most personal.

Terry George has done a brilliant job, together with Keir Pearson and Paul Rusesabagina, of documenting the Rwandan genocide through the personal story of Paul's family. Dan Cheadle, with his soft-spoken character, brings out the stark reality of the crisis and the depth of what Paul achieved. Sophie Okonedo has succeeded in providing the strong support to Cheadle, as the wife of Paul.

A movie that can be used as a good awareness raising tool but as one of the cameramen in the movie, Joaquin Phoenix says, "Will the images change anything? People will look and say 'that's horrible' and then go on with their dinners." And, the wars continue around the world...

Sushi, Haiku and Murakami

2007-01-15T12:31:00.000+05:30

My first sushi experience was a couple of months ago, when two colleagues of mine who were absolute sushi fans convinced me that I would love it, if I only tried. So, the three of us went to Sakura, the Japanese restaurant in Kollupitiya and they ordered some miso soup, followed by mixed tempura and sushi. As I was still feeling queasy about eating raw fish, I chose instead the avocado and cucumber sushi and the fried prawn sushi.

As I took my first bite of sushi, there was the taste of cool, sticky rice and a bit of prawn, followed by the sharp tang of soy-sauce and again merging into the soft rice. I was left with a feeling of pleasantness and a feeling of fullness in my stomach, after my very first sushi roll, but quite unable to decide whether I really liked the sushi I ate or not. There was a gentle but sudden ending to the eating experience.

With haiku, I admit I am totally lost. The brevity of the words and the way they are strung all leave me a bit doubtful and perplexed as to the meaning. Yet, there are times, when I am left pondering over the meaning and unable to decide whether I liked the haiku or not.

Reading Murakami was a combined sushi and haiku experience, yet more pleasanter. During my recent trip to Trivandrum, while browsing a bookshop behind the Nandinie Sweet House, I came across 'The Elephant Vanishes' and thought I would see if I liked Murakami's writing. Alfred Birnbaum and Jay Rubin's translation makes the reading a pleasant experience. Murakami has a very readable style of writing that very simply puts everyday living before you and at the same time leaves a lot to your imagination with regard to the darker side of life.

Sleep, The kangaroo communique, On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful april morning are my favourites in this book. Look forward to reading more of Murakami.

A random, funny link

2007-01-14T11:46:00.000+05:30

I stumbled upon the following link while doing a google search and I think this is the most ridiculous website that I have come across. Of course, if there were rulers in this country once, it follows that there will doubtless be descendents of the royal family, and probably many from Jaffna can doubtless claim a lineage or connection to the former ruling families of Jaffna. To state that one is the heir to a non-existent throne, especially in today's context, and to create a website is a joke. Especially, it was funny reading the names of the self-proclaimed current members of the royal family: Ilavarasan so & so, Ilavarasi so & so etc.

I am not against digging through one's roots. I have sometimes been interested in learning more about what my grandparents and their grandparents did, but this as a basis of understanding of the social set-up in the past and also to see how and whether their traits have been passed on in the family.

I found it fascinating when one of my friend's said her grand-uncle had been doing research on their lineage and had traced them back to a Nambodri of Kerala, who had married a Sri Lankan, after having been expelled out of their caste and was now trying to find out how they both met. I am eagerly awaiting the publishing of his book to read more about the society and interactions back then and especially the Sri Lankan connection. This actually prompted me to try to delve into my own ancestry, beyond my grandparents.

However, stumbling on 'H.R.H Prince Remigius Kanagarajah's' website, I think this site is a good reminder of how people can get too absorbed in the unreal (the past/glory) that they forget their reality (the present/ their own contribution to humankind). Pity the deluded mind.

Veyil

2007-01-14T08:52:00.000+05:30

Bharath continues with his wise selection of movies, that suit his personality and acting skills, and that have some storyline coupled with good directing and some nice songs. Hence, his star continues to rise...

The music compositions are the lyrics of N. Muthukumar directed by G.V. Prakash, the 16 yr.old nephew (the child voice of the famous 90s song 'Chikkubukku Rayile' song from 'Gentleman') of A.R. Rahman. I like the song 'veyilodu uravaadi, veyilodu vilaiyaadi' (bonding with the sun, playing with the sun), a good cinematic depiction of the childhood of the two brothers, the central characters of the movie. Murugesu, the elder brother, (Pasupathy) runs away from home as a child after his father gives him a public beating and humiliation one day for cutting school and going to the local theatre. Kadhir (Bharath), the younger brother wants his brother to know that it was not him who told his father that Murugesu had cut school. Murugesu finds a home in the local theatre in another village and eventually love but he loses them both and finally, after twenty years, he decides to return home at his most vulnerable time seeking the warmth of his family. His brother, mother and his childhood sweetheart (now married and separated with a child) are the only ones who greet his return with genuine happiness. His father has still not forgiven him for stealing the family jewels when he ran away and his two sisters born, after he ran away, don't recognize him as their brother as they do not know him and think of him as a thief as well. Under what circumstances they come to accept him again as their family member is what the movie is about.

The violent scenes at the start was well-filmed. It actually gave me a surprise as I had been expecting a quiet, family story of feuds and reconciliations and I see red sky, pouring rain, a violent fight. The external factor,violence and animosity from the local thugs to the protagonists, is a parallel story, like in most new Tamil movies and acts as the catalyst to the main story line.

The female characters Meenakshi (Bhavna) and Thangam (Priyanka) in the movie have little to do, other than acting demure and timid. Pandiyamma (Shriya Reddy), has a more stronger role, albeit small. She is a woman who experiences puppy love and then pain at the sudden disappearance of her childhood sweetheart, moves on and marries a man who abuses her and who finally decides to live independently on her own feet with her child, rather than continue sustaining the abuses. The friendship that is revived between Murugesu and Pandiyamma is nicely depicted. Shriya's features and acting in this movie reminds one of Nandita Das. Shriya has a good future in movies with a good, realistic story-line (the so-called art movies). Look forward to seeing her develop her acting skills.

Overall, the movie was interesting to watch, though the punishment meted out to the elder son by the father for cutting school seemed unrealistic and also a regret that the usually depicted violence from the local thugs brought the film into the run-of-the-mill territory of Tamil cinema.

Galle Literary Festival

2007-01-12T19:08:00.000+05:30

I just heard about the Literary Festival down south. The event sounds exciting as it is the first time that I hear of a grand literary festival in this country (each session costs US $10 and the featured sessions nearly US $50) but am not sure whether I would enjoy going to such a festival. I like the contents of books but am not too keen on meeting the writers. Especially writers talking about their own work. Another reason why I don't go for book launches either. I only went once to a book launch and it was so artificial. I never felt like reading the autographed book that was bought that day.

The session that I most liked in the programme was the Galle Fort Walking tour with Rajpal de Silva (the tickets are already sold out). Dalrymple's 'The Last Mughal' and Mark Tully's 'East meets West' sessions also seem interesting. Not interested in any of the other sessions. A joint session of Kiran Desai, Romesh Goonesekera and Suketu Mehta 'Tellng the tale: Fact or Fiction' is also on the programme list.

As some friends were going for the event, I thought about joining in for the sunday sessions but don't feel like going in this rain three hours on the road and another 3 hours on the way back. So, I shall settle down for reading Murakami at home and having some hot home-made Pongal on the Thai Pongal day.

New Year sentiments...

2007-01-01T07:07:00.000+05:30

Maybe it was me. Me, being obstinate that I was not going to recognize New Year's eve or day as a special day but rather as any other day of the year and any New Year greetings despatched well before THE day. I was not being a cynic just that this year, I did not feel like recognizing the day, but rather as a normal weekend and I settled down to read my first book of Murakami. I must have somehow transmitted these waves of thoughts to my close friends without ever speaking of it, or they must have been on the same wavelength of thought as me as they had also sent their wishes well before the day, for none called or 'sms'ed me at midnight yesterday as was customary. Instead, as the fireworks burst into full action around the city at midnight, and my mobile became alive with its constant beeping of the arrival of an sms, I found this morning that it was almost all from acquaintances through work, with whom I had had some form of friction during the past year or whom I had totally lost touch with.

An unexpected start to a year...

On the national front, the Government became sentimental with the approach of New Year and their New Year's resolution is towards a more environmentally-friendly Sri Lanka! : ) Today's news announced that the use of polyethene (<20 microns) is banned as of January 1st, 2007. Therefore, lunch tissues, shopping bags are all prohibited and anyone found using them are liable to two years of jail sentence + a maximum fine of LKR 10,000. I also heard that last week, a ban on smoking has been imposed but could not verify it.

An environmentally friendly New Year to all! : )

Travelogue or an Appointment Diary?

2006-12-31T20:53:00.000+05:30

I decided to take with me R.K. Narayan's My Dateless Diary - An American Journey, for reading on the plane to Trivandrum and back over Christmas. The back cover proclaimed it to be 'an unusual and witty travel book about USA' and I had bought it, as I was already a fan of R.K Narayan's short stories and was interested in reading his travel writing, if he had written one.

I started the book with the expectation of vivid accounts of the places he visited, taking into account the fact that the book stemmed from his nine months of travel around America, his first travel abroad at the age of 50. I looked forward not only to descriptions of the scenery and sites that had captured his imagination and attention, but also to humorous and accurate portrayals of the people he met. The book did have a promising start with 'over a cup of coffee', Narayan's first acquaintance with self-service cafeterias and coffee, not made the Madras way. It quickly petered out and the book turned out to be simply a diary with brief notes on the appointments with various people he met during the course of his nine month travel, writing 'The Guide'.

There was only one account in the entire book that was a response evoked by seeing a place, his visit to the Grand Canyon (Page 144). I was happy to see that the place that I have on my 'places to visit' list did manage to evoke his emotions.

"God has shown in the most solid things - rocks - the highest of elusive abstractions of form. Observing this I get a sympathetic notion of what abstract painters attempt to do."

And, then a little later:
"Before the East lightens, to watch the canyon is to watch an infinite void. At this hour when the sky is still starry - there are seven stars over the void, it looks like the beginning of creation itself. At first there is absolute darkness below, but if you keep looking on, gradually contours and rises become faintly visible - softly emerging to view. At this hour, with only the stars to witness (fortunately they make no noise), absolute silence reigns over the whole scene - everything is absolute here."

This is about all he writes of places in his 184 page travel diary. The rest are names, names of places he passed through, names of sites he visited, names of people he met. The latter being predominant. Not surprising as he is primarily an observer of people, which gives his short stories the particulary delightful narrative. Here, though, the people are restricted to simply names - Ravi Shankar, Greta Garbo, Gunther, Narayanan Menon etc. and randomly, a sentence said by someone or other.

Overall disappointed but then looking at the title again, R.K Narayan has simply titled it 'My Dateless Diary', he didn't call it a travelogue and has published his diary as it was, without edition or connectivity. If the publishers have used the word 'travel writing', it is their mistake and not to be attributed to the writer.

Lord of the Rings

2006-12-30T13:25:00.001+05:30

Watched the trilogy in one marathon viewing. Guess it was because it was like a book which you had to finish reading to the end, despite being aware that the story would conclude with the triumph of the protagonist and his supporters.

I had resisted watching the movie as I did reading the Potter series simply because everyone seemed so enraptured by the two, without a positive reason for doing so. With many of my friends being fans of the Lord of the Rings movie, I finally decided to watch it and I was hooked from start to finish. It reminded me of my fascination with the Chronicles of Narnia as a child.

All the same, I must say that the human mind finds it so difficult to think outside the box of their own living world and everything from war to industrialization and deforestation found its way into the book. The team that set out on its mission of destroying the ring could well have been a team from an action movie or the likes of an Alistair Maclean book, Guns of Navarone etc. Anyway, it did not diminish the enjoyment of a movie by its predictability and 'feel good' ending. Therefore, would classify it as a story well-told. Some of the endless, repetitive fights between the orcs and the others could have been reduced, though. Especially as it became tedious, when one was watching the three long movies in one sitting.

My favourite characters were Sam Geewise, Arven and Aragorn. I did like the other three main hobbits as well - Frodo Baggins, Peregrin Took, Merry and Gandalf, the Wizard.

Princess and Snowy

2006-12-30T11:53:00.000+05:30

This post is especially for Emma, as promised. Posting it here instead of emailing so that I don't have to send it to everyone at work, who are also interested in the two kittens. (Sorry for the delay. I had actually taken the photos a month ago but it took me a month to finish the film roll)

Princess, the beauty with an attitude...

Snowy, the mischievous, adorable one...

I don't think they know their names though, as no-one else seems to call them by these names that we bestowed upon them! : )

The mother is fine, though she has recently got addicted to Whiskers, the cat food that was introduced to her by one of the staff and is asking for it all the time, instead of the rice and curry she was accustomed to all these days. The addiction started with an evening treat, extended to lunch and then included breakfast. Now, she asks for the catfood even in between meal times. She has been transformed from a patient and gentle kitten turned to mother cat into a demanding, greedy cat who spends more time on food than with her kittens. The kittens mercifully have not yet been acquainted with this expensive food, so pretty much feel that gourmet food is sardines or chicken with rice and milk.

They have started their explorations of the premises and one day, one of them was found peeping out of one of the top branches of the plastic christmas tree in the lobby. I hope they will find a home soon, as they are now at the right age to move on, not too young to be too sad at the parting and not too old to be accustomed to the current environment.

Roller coaster week

2006-12-28T12:59:00.000+05:30

Still dazed by the emotional roller coaster of this week. From a stressed out mad rush to finish pending work before taking my holidays on friday and saturday morning, to attending the funeral of a close friend's father on Sunday to a flight to Trivandrum on monday to meet my best friend in school and a 2-day holiday by the beach, back to Colombo and home, where my father is in-mourning for the funeral of his sister today, I have been moving back and forth through various emotions. Each day, I tried to block out the rest of the world and focused on that day and the surrounding environment.

Death and life...

2006-12-24T12:17:00.000+05:30

A man sings some religious songs for the soul of the dead man. His heart-rending verses pierce my mind and I find myself weeping. Weeping for my friend. Weeping for her family. Weeping for the thing we call life.

An old lady fumbles her way to the stairs, where I sit, and struggles to sit down. I help her. She sits, leaning her head on the banister. A sigh escapes her. Her face is weighed down with helplessness. Her husband passed away the year before and now her younger brother. Seeing her feeble face gazing at the dead man's body, I cry for the relationships, which bind us in life.

A child makes its way inside and queries of its mother, "Why is everyone looking sad?" He makes his way then to his grandmother and aunt and asks of them, "Someone said that Grandpa died of a heart-attack, did he?" My friend closes his mouth. He wriggles free, looks up at her and asks, "Why did you cover my mouth?""Because you shouldn't speak now", his aunt responds. He goes out of the door, miming a swimmer and then goes and asks the men seated outside, "Why are all the ladies inside and participating in all the activities, while all the men are seated outside?" No one responds.

Meanwhile, inside the rituals continue. My friend's mother is asked to remove her thali and her jewellery and to wipe off her pottu. Her children wail and I see my friend's brother hurry off to a corner, unable to control his tears. I think, "Isn't it enough that the family is suffering as it is? Why on earth do they need to undergo a ritual that emphasises the loss?"

It is time for the body to be taken to the crematory ground. The wails of the family rend the air. I want to hug my friend and comfort her but I stay back. She is surrounded by her family and her close relations. As the coffin is carried to the hearse, she holds her brother and mother and they cry. The family makes the way to the hearse and her brother gets into the car. He will light the funeral pyre of their father. His brother-in-laws accompany him. My friend, her sister and mother return home crying. They weep for the father who has departed. Her sister's children are also crying, but their tears are for the sadness they perceive in their parents.

Thus ends the final rites of a life. A garlanded photo and memories are all that will remain with his family. In my ears, a line from one of the songs stays "Don't let me forget you in my next birth".

Numbed mind...

2006-12-21T19:02:00.000+05:30

My mind trying to organize my work,
trying to complete ever-increasing loads.
Tired and yet going on
because of the responsibilities.
Finishing a meeting late in the evening
I arrived, tired at my friend's house.
She had just arrived in the morning
For the funeral of her father.
I sat holding her hand,
while she cried...
No words escaped my mouth,
my mind totally numb
I sat quietly till
her tears were spent
And, all in the room were quiet.
My mind still numb
I took leave of her.
I wonder now.. why did not I feel sadness?
Why did I not feel her pain?
Why did not a single tear escape my eyes?
All I am aware of is tiredness. Numbness.
I come home and my father tells me.
Your aunt has passed away just now.
I nod and go to my room.
Still feeling numb.

Going through memory lane...

2006-12-17T19:49:00.000+05:30

Thinking of my Christmas treat, a visit to Kerala to visit my best friend in school and her family, has sent me down memory lane.

I took out from an old bag, letters, cards and notes we had exchanged over the years. There are a couple of them that captures my eyes and I am back at Abu Dhabi Indian School, a shy 12 yr. old entering the 8th grade classroom as a new student. Two giggling girls approach me during break and ask me to pronounce a name 'Smehna' on a notebook cover. I hesitantly pronounce it wondering whether there is any trick involved. But, no, they are are happy that I managed to pronounce the name correctly which so many new-comers found difficult and I am included in their group. Later in the afternoon, as I go trying to locate my school bus which will take me home and enter Bus No.3, there again I see the girl who spoke to me during the break. Bindu waves happily to me and calls me to her seat. Since that point, and for the duration of our three years in school together, we were pretty much inseparable.

We were actually a trio - ABN - the three best friends and we were pretty much inseparable both in class, assembly and breaks and then hours over the phone, when we returned home. It is weird now thinking that talking over the phone was a major pastime back then but in a country where your parents didn't allow you to go anywhere without one of them being present and local calls were free, talking over the phone was the teen trend. And, we had lots to speak to each other. Sometimes, conversations would start from the time we returned home from school around 2p.m. and were having lunch and would go on into the evening.

We enjoyed writing pretend-letters in class breaks to each other, of us in the future. We used to also enjoying putting in French words that we were newly learning. There is an especially funny one from her, dated 2052, written from beyond the grave.

"Cava? I expired on the 8th of September 2052AD. I had been suffering from severe pneumonia;... I can see everyone around me but they don't see to see me. There is now a dispute among my children about the division of my property. I am now studying at Varkala Central Govt. School for the Dead.... I am staying in my great great grandma's house. My mom, dad, grandmother and almost all our relations are there. We have such a lovely time..."

I wonder what I wrote to her from my grave. : )

Thinking back, it was a period of naiveness believing that we would always be there for each other and things would not change. Nitu and I lost contact, somewhere in her first year of medical studies, after she returned to Bangladesh. Bindu and I have however maintained contact and been there for each other. We always have had a sense of telepathic connection about times when the other was going through difficult patches.

I had made a promise when she returned to India 13 years ago that I would visit her within 10 years in Kerala (the timeframe based on my assumption that it would require that many years for me to be financially independent) and I am finally keeping my promise, though my promised timeframe has expired. As I write this, I have beside me the soft-toy, a golden puppy, that was selected for me by her toddler last year.

Expressing anger...

2006-12-11T18:51:00.000+05:30

Anger is very much part of human nature. J'en ai marre. No worries. Un plus tard, le soleil brillera sur ma vie. Through the spectrum of emotions, our lives sail along.

How each one expresses emotions is basically what defines us though. And, anger is a huge chunk of the people-skills definition pie.

I guess when one is angry, one needs an outlet but I wish that people who scream and shout at the other person, would just walk off and go to an empty space and scream away in isolation and return to public company, after they have vented their anger; And, those who go to the extent of hitting the other would do better to go off to an anger room and punch some boxing bags and come back when they have cooled off.

It is so unpleasant to be around when someone is being shouted at. I usually have mixed feelings when anyone in my vicinity is being shouted at: tears ready to drop any minute, scared and very much angry. It feels so wrong.

I feel like...

2006-12-11T18:21:00.000+05:30

a juggler in a circus, right now. Trying to keep up to the pace of work that keeps increasing by the day. There I was, thinking that I would be able to wrap up this year's work and look forward to a quiet relaxing holiday by the waters of Kerala over Christmas, catching up with friends and write a bit as well and everything has been turned upside down. Greater responsibilities and newer workloads. Wider opportunites and lanes opening up. Yes, I did look forward to this but not really like this, not all at once and not when I was going to go off on my year-end holidays. Take a deep breath and exhale slowly... I will make it through.

Queen

2006-12-09T17:46:00.000+05:30

and It's a beautiful day... One of my favourite songs since I first heard it a couple of years ago. Listening to the Queen CD throughout the 10 hours I worked at a stretch to complete a creative writing assignment: the framework for a novel and starting the first chapter. Ever since, I have considered Queen's music as an energizer or work stimulator.

Today, I again enjoyed Queen's music on the long drive back to Colombo from Ampara, as the driver happened to be a Queen fan as well.

Another of my Queen favourite is "I am going slightly mad"

International Volunteer's Day

2006-12-06T07:30:00.000+05:30

I went to a great concert yesterday, which had been organized for the International Volunteer's Day Celebrations yesterday.

The theme song created by Bathiya and Santhush, Ashanti and other contemporary Sri Lanka singers opened up the evening at the Sugathadasa Indoor Sports Stadium. This was followed by a wonderful presentation, "Rhythms and Colours of Sri Lanka", dances of each and every part of Sri Lanka. This performance was the courtesy of the Ministry of Tourism and all the performers performed on a voluntary basis. I truly enjoyed this presentation as I had only been familiar with Bharathanatyam (North) and Kandyan dancing till then and not of the various shades of the South: the devil dancing and low country dance forms etc. One thing that struck me throughout the performance was that there was a primeval beat to most of Sri Lankan dance forms. The beat, music and dance itself was close to tribal dances and very primal beats that struck directly a beat within you.

An interesting guest song performance by Supermodel Dji Dieng and Landor was followed by messages from the four supermodels who had come for the IVD Celebrations II - the fashion show, that was to be held the next day. The two video presentations on volunteerism, produced by YA TV, was very good.

The school performances was also great. The one that evoked the most clapping and whistles from the audience was the performance of a Punjabi song by little toddlers, well under 10 years old.

A special performance by the Sunera Foundation for the Differently-abled was wonderful.

I am glad that I went to the concert, though I had been close to canceling going there, due to my work load.

Starting the next step...

2006-12-03T09:09:00.000+05:30

I started this morning on the sequel to the first step. I decided that I could not keep putting off my thoughts for a more calmer time of a writing holiday as I risked losing what I wanted to say. Also, my workload continues being as heavy as it ever was and my travelling mood is on an upbeat, that I want to travel on holidays rather than spend the time writing exclusively. I have been increasingly inclined not to write about a dark period in my life that I passed through and which definitely was not my road accident but I feel it is important that I do. I want those who have gone through similar experiences to take heart and be strong.

Until I start the process here and now, the next step might go unrecorded.. So, I decided to just note down thoughts and feelings from the past one year as and when it came to my mind. I will keep posting bits and pieces of the writing on the blog.

Here is the first excerpt:
"The first week was extremely hard for me. It was difficult for me to take in the noise all around me. After my isolation, I found I was sensitive to noises, tones and movement. The little energy that I had was being drained away by the noise: colleagues chattering continuously amongst themselves, laughing loudly, noise at meal times which seemed to be endless as different people ate at different times their breakfast and lunch and had tea/coffee breaks, therefore the entire day, it seemed as if there was always some people eating at the dining table beside me and therefore ceaseless chattering. Worse, there was someone or the other walking by my table, either coming into office, going to the bathroom, going upstairs, going to the dining room, going to the stationary cupboard, going to the photocopy machine. Always coming and going. I found it extremely difficult. I tried to block out the noise. I tried to keep quiet, as I had done during my accident to keep my thoughts away from the pain. I tried to keep still and concentrate my thoughts on my computer screen.

It was more difficult when I came across insincerity blatantly displayed. When someone was speaking or saying things that they did not really mean, I could not take it. I had become so sensitive that only purity of words, actions and calm, quiet movement could soothe and set me at ease."

Fiction writing vs. case studies

2006-12-01T06:39:00.000+05:30

I came across on Indian Writing the link to Andrew Hagan's Happy birthday, dear Happy. It is a case in point of how powerful fiction can be used to illustrate an issue, as compared to the dry presentation of a case study.

The fictive voice of the 14 yr. old in Hagan's writing brings home the suffering of the individual, the family and manages to introduce the role that agencies such as UNICEF play. While the story focuses purely on the protagonist, it succeeds in illustrating the important role that agencies working for the prevention of HIV/AIDS play in the lives, by this focus on the suffering and longing of the individuals.

I have been trying to introduce fiction-writing as part of a human stories collection that is recorded for project visibility and reporting, but have had to focus on dry case studies due to rigidity of the system. Of course, one can't attach a piece of fiction-writing with each and every progress report but it pays to have at least one strong piece of fiction-writing for each project that captures the essence of the work. At least for the continued motivation of the individuals working in high-stress environments in these projects.

Inna's embroidery

2006-11-30T20:45:00.000+05:30

When my friend wrote that her current addiction was embroidery (or 'brodery' as she likes to call it) and asked what I liked best - pictures of animals, landscapes etc, I imagined a piece of cloth with neat cross-stitches painstakingly done to make colourful patterns. I didn't expect this.

I quite regret saying that I loved skies the most. But then, it would be interesting to see if you can capture the skies in your 'brodery', Inna! ; )

Riot novels

2006-11-25T07:11:00.000+05:30

Came across this article by Raj Kamal Jha on Jabberwock's post.

After reading Jha's spirited article and Jai Arjun Singh's thoughts upon reading the novel, I am induced to read Jha's 3rd novel Fireproof, after I finish reading 'July', a novel based on the infamous 1983 riots in Sri Lanka.

So far, in my reading of July, I have been introduced to the residents of Araliya Gardens in Colombo and their friendships, births of their children, the embargo in the 70s. While the first few pages initially engrossed my attention through its description of the city, where I live, it failed to keep up my attention in its subsequent pages and I guess I am dragging my reading. I rarely give up on a book I start reading, without completing it. The only exception was Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. I never got beyond the first page of that humungous novel, despite the fact that I kept renewing the book for more than a month but then gave up as I then had exams to consider.

A friend whose opinions in books I respect kept telling me I made a mistake as Rushdie is one of her favourite authors and she keeps raving about his poetic style and gave me a long talk on post-modern writing styles. For me, I really never think about the era of writing or the classifications drawn up by literature experts. Reading for me is a personal experience that I take delight in and it is a relationship with the story and myself. The relationship can vary on a broad spectrum, and can be a good relationship, a rocky relationship, an outright hostile one etc., based on the story-telling skills and style of the writer. Anyway, I thought I would try something shorter to see if maybe I felt differently about Rushdie's work and borrowed a collection of his short stories and no, I did not feel differently though I did not give up but read the entire collection

P.S: Jai Arjun Singh's interview with Jha whets one's interest in reading the writer's work. Brilliant interview!

Some things that I don't agree with...

2006-11-25T05:57:00.000+05:30

Sometimes, you are suddenly confronted with certain things that cause within you some confusion, because you don't like it but you don't know how to say 'no' without hurting or offending the feelings of the others.

One of such things is the garlanding tradition of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Welcoming a person or persons with a garland is to indicate that they are being considered akin to God, or at least above the persons receiving them and this concept I truly don't like. In weddings, I don't find it an issue when the bride or groom or best man/woman are greeted with a garland, as the intention is to make the couple feel special on their special day. Even on a celebratory occassion, where the Chief Guest is greeted with a garland, it seems okay as again you are expressing that that particular Guest is special. What I can't get my mind around however is when you are garlanded when you visit a poor community in a rural village where some improvements in living conditions are taking place through the organization you work for. Especially, as I think it is the right of every individual to expect better living conditions and work towards it. The support that comes from outside is 'a support' to get them on their feet but is not a 'gift'. So, why should visitors to the village be considered as if they are doing the village a favour by their visit? For example, if I am working in a project which sets up a revolving loan fund for income generation activities for women in a remote, rural village, I am doing my job. It is not my personal money that I am investing. I don't need to be treated like God. And, this has become such a tradition that you are garlanded when you even visit a welfare camp for displaced people who are living in miserable conditions. That is sickening for me. When the people have just undergone trauma and are living in high anxiety circumstances, you organize a meeting to discuss their issues to see how you can help out and they garland you.

The other thing is when you are asked to sit up on a make-shift platform in a chair and the audience sits on the ground on mats. One of the times when I sat on the floor amongst the group, the people from the community and my colleagues asked me to sit up on the platform so they could see me better.

So, I guess the communities and funding organizations have got used to these practices that they don't see anything wrong in it but for me, I see us re-inforcing inequality, while preaching empowerment. I would like it that irrespective of who comes along, the community offers what they have: if sufficient chairs are there, then everyone can sit on chairs or all can sit on mats. This will certainly help towards removing at least one barrier: the one of status and everyone will feel more comfortable expressing their opinions and feelings. Actually, I would expect this to be the first principle of any development worker and organization.

Moreover, it does not help the visitor in their objective of getting an accurate feedback from the community on their current living conditions or the impact of the project on their lives. I have always found such meetings so orchestrated that people thank the visitor and say everything has been so helpful and useful for their lives, just because they think that either the visitor will take it negatively if they don't paint a pretty picture and stop further funding or because they have been asked by local partners to do so. I have always preferred one-on-one private interviews with random participants of the village, without any of the other villagers or my colleagues participating in the interviews as then I find people open up and speak about their troubles, speak about their true opinion on the project - be it positive or negative, and how and what they actually feel would best improve their lives. I don't know if this also has to do with the fact that I am more comfortable with direct conversations than public-speaking and I don't know how to break the atmosphere of politeness and distantness in large groups. Whether or not public-speaking plays a role in my attitude against orchestrated group meetings, I do think that organizations working towards human development really need to be genuine and start breaking away barriers set up by them.

Anyway, I guess it helps me that I don't face such uncomfortable situations often, being based in Colombo and having to make these visits only a couple of times a year.

Art of making presentations...

2006-11-23T20:54:00.000+05:30

and public speaking is truly a skill that improves with nurturing, practice and confidence. I really admire people who can speak up amidst large crowds to ask a significant question or express concise opinions and views and especially people who can make amusing and pertinent presentations or conduct interactive dialogues with a large audience. I have personally never felt comfortable speaking in large groups and I find that it is a skill that wanes and waxes based on how much I nurture the skill. Though even the best presentations I have ever made to-date have always been approached with much tension and I have always been relieved when they are over. Yet, it is an art that needs to be nurtured.

At the end of a presentation today, which I rushed through for no explicable reason especially as I felt my audience listening to me, my audience was completely silent. "Shell-shocked" was the term the organizer of the workshop described the audience. Looking on the bright side, at least they asked me for my contact details for future consultation. I always try to keep the humour of such situations in perspective to tide me through difficult meetings and presentations.

Stepmom

2006-11-22T18:17:00.000+05:30

The superb 1998 movie of Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon (another actress whose movies I like). The movie flowed beautifully, developing the characters of the two women, as it did the relationship between them. They were well supported by good acting by the two children, Jena Malone and Liam Aiken.

Emotion-packed scenes which tugged at the viewer's heart, at least mine, highlighting:
(1) The kindness one can extend to another by empathy: Isabelle (Roberts) tells the two children, who have not been picked from school by their mother (Sarandon) on her day and are upset about it, that it is she who had messed up and that she had forgotten that she had been asked to pick them up that day.

(2) The unspoken messages conveyed by parents to their children: The scene where Jackie and her two children, Ben and Anna, go horse-riding and they speak about Isabelle and the way Jackie's facial expressions change, as the children gradually confess that they no longer hate Isabelle. Especially, when Ben says, "Mom, if you want me to hate her, I will."

(3) The way children know the spots that can hurt most for their parents and strike at these spots when they feel inexpressible hurt, anger, frustration and a feeling of helplessness: The scene where Jackie and her former husband gather the two children to tell them about Jackie's cancer and the fact that she might be dying. Starting with a joke (with the children initially joking about who is going to get married, as that was the last occassion when there had been a family meeting and Ben says 'Mom and Isabelle'), it progresses into a very emotional scene, ending with Anna asking her mother purposefully why Isabelle wasn't there to pick them up, as she was supposed to do and then snapping at her brother who says that he prefers to be with mom, "Well, Isabelle is your mom now. This one is dying."

(4) The life-long relationship between a mother and her children: the talk each of the child has with their mother on christmas day, as they open the gift that she has specially made for them.

A beautiful movie!

More Julia Roberts...

2006-11-22T06:28:00.000+05:30

I truly enjoyed Julia Roberts' acting again in My best friend's wedding (1997) and Mona Lisa Smile (2003), which I had watched first when the movies were released. I had loved "My best friend's wedding" the first time itself but I had not thought much about "Mona Lisa Smile" but watching it again, I really found the movie engaging. For me, my basic definition of a good movie has always been a movie that can keep the viewer absorbed from start to finish, without disruption, and having a smooth flow to the story. These two movies do that very well.

Mona Lisa Smile is a good reminder of the progress that women have made in the last century and also a reminder that one, whether it is a woman or a man, cannot be limited by other people's definition of what is right or their expectations of the person, but rather one's own definition of life's meaning and goals.

When a movie leaves you wanting to know more about what happened after, it means that it has succeeded in its story-telling. With "My best friend's wedding", I wanted to know that Julia Roberts had moved on from her sudden obsession with her best friend. I also wanted to know that her best friend did not have second thoughts after his wedding. I think the movie was well directed, in that the story did not wander and it stopped at the perfect point and kept the viewer absorbed and sympathetic to the protaganist, even when she was being nasty.

Over the three posts that I have written on my opinion on her movies, from being indifferent and quite critical of her acting in Nottinghill and Closer, I am moving towards being a fan of hers from her acting in MLS and MBFW.

Peter Apps

2006-11-19T07:18:00.000+05:30

Waking up paralysed in Sri Lanka's war zone - the article by Peter Apps, a 25 yr. old Reuters correspondent who met with a road accident on the way to a work mission in Batticaloa on September 5th and who is currently in rehabilitation in England.

Quoting Peter Apps in the article "Before long, I hope to be out in the local area. Even if no movement returns, the staff agree there is little good reason I can't return to some form of journalism. Whether I get out of here on foot or in a chair, in some shape or form I will be back."

It brought back memories and strong feelings. The feeling of determination that I would be back on my feet after my accident but more the determination that I would return to work, in whatever form it took, be it in wheelchair or crutches.

A friend of mine from Batticaloa, who visited me after I returned home from hospital last year told me that, "This is always going to be a turning point in your life, which is going to be a main reference point and you are always going to think of events in your life as events before the accident and as events after the accident"

I found it true. The major challenges that you face in life define your path and you always recollect the past using them as benchmarks. Reading the story of someone who met with an accident on a similar mission (though mine was not for journalism but for a post-tsunami assessment) on the same road to Batticaloa was emotional.

My best wishes and prayers to Peter Apps on his journey to overcome the challenge he currently faces and that he returns to his work as a journalist, stronger as a person, and without letting negativity creep in.

Erin Brockovich

2006-11-17T20:41:00.000+05:30

I loved the movie and yes, Julia Roberts' acting in this 2000 movie.

It is remarkable when an individual stands firm in his or her own fight for justice on behalf of someone else. And, despite the odds stands firm till the very end. It is so easy to give up, get frustrated, angry etc, when it is someone else's cause rather than your own. If it is your own, then there is an automatic force within that pushes you towards your goal and even if the journey is more personal and traumatic, you have a more valid reason for putting yourself on the line.

Based on numerous past experiences, I was increasingly inclined to the conclusion that each individual had to stand up for themselves and that there was no point in going out of the way for people who did not really wish to be helped. But watching Erin, I shift my perspective significantly: it is truly inspirational when individuals do push themselves for others. At the same time, it is easier as you are to an extent removed from a deeply personal involvement which would be the case when it was standing up for yourself. Also, being removed from direct impact of the results allows you to step away once the efforts bear fruit, be it unsuccessful or successful, and move on.

I guess this movie is one that provokes one's reflections on one's own life and experiences and examine how one has stood during the challenges.

Great, dynamic acting by Julia Roberts! (As opposed to her low-key acting in Closer and Nottinghill)

Julia Roberts movies

2006-11-16T19:56:00.000+05:30

Watched Closer (2004) and Nottinghill (1999) this week. I am not sure whether Julia Roberts actually acted. I had a feeling that she felt she had just landed in the midst of a movie shoot and was just moving about her role. There is a lack of dynamism in her acting.

There is a line she says in Nottinghill, " In a few years time, people will realise I can't act and I will be a forgotten middle-aged woman who resembles someone who was famous for a brief time".

Though Nottinghill is a totally mushy, unreal movie with an unreal ending (a declaration of love at a press conference, of all places!), there were a couple of good laughs along the way and even some realistically spoken lines and scenes like the above. The reaction of William's (Hugh Grant) relations and friends when they meet Anna (Julia Roberts) at their family birthday dinner; the lines spoken by Anna when her co-actor in the Henry James movie asks her about Williams hanging about the sets and she responds with a shrug and says something to the effect, "I know. It is awkward. An embarassing incident from the past. I don't know why he is here." But then again, they spoilt it by having the unrealistic effect creep in by having Williams overhear the conversation through his headphones, which happened to be given to him to listen to the dialogues during the filming. Okay for light watching.

As for Closer, it certainly had more substance. It was a modern play and I think much better on-stage than on screen. The casual meetings of four individuals that lead to sexual relationships, betrayal and break-ups. I would have liked the inclusion of how the mental compatibilities came into play in the relationships, than it being focused purely on the physical relationship but the movie hardly focuses on the individual likes/ dislikes of the characters (except mentioning that Julia Roberts' character Anna is a photographer who finds the aquarium relaxing, while Natalie Portman's character Alice is a former stripper turned waitress turned stripper again and who dislikes eating fish; the two male characters are a dermatologist and a obituary column writer who like to connect to porn forums in their spare time). Anyway, I felt that Natalie Portman outshone her fellow actors and actress, by her exuberant and youthful acting.

Will be watching Erin Brockovich next. It is going to be another week of Julia Roberts' movies next week as well. Not because I am a fan of her acting but rather because I happened to come across an 8-in-1 DVD of her movies and I recalled I had liked her acting in My best friend's wedding, which was one of the movies in the DVD.

Temptation

2006-11-12T07:37:00.000+05:30

Check out Carol Gillot's blog for some tempting chocolate fare.

A tsunami song...

2006-11-11T20:42:00.000+05:30

Just heard a heart-wrenching song on Shakthi FM. I missed the child singer's name but the song was written by Sadagoban (interviewed by the radio today on their Young Star programme). The song is about a child who has lost his family in the tsunami and regrets most the kiss he was about to give his baby sister.

New location for travelogue...

2006-11-08T21:51:00.000+05:30

I have created a new blog for the travel notes made from my recent trip to India and other past and future travel notes.

The posts of the Golden Triangle Trip has now been shifted to My Travel Log.

This blog will continue as before with my views on happenings in my environment, that comes to my mind when I sit at my desk.

Back home from India

2006-10-29T17:35:00.000+05:30

Returned today from a week's holiday in North India.

The heavy rains in the past 48 hours had flooded the roads from the airport to the city and the entire road trip took us nearly 4 hours, plus water seeped into the car.

The car was stopped at army checkpoints along the way but they let us proceed after showing our IDs, but at the last checkpoint which was really close to home, they stopped our car, made us all get down and did a minute search and made us open all our bags, though they were wrapped tightly around by the Indian airport security check. It was particularly annoying as they opened each and every of the sweet boxes, though the picture on the box and the smell was self-obvious. We had to pack up everything after, on the middle of the road. It was very annoying to be treated that way in your own country, when especially after your trip in India, where you are given a very hospitable treatment.

One unique contrast in both countries that I noticed was that in India, Indians and South Asians are given a very warm treatment, with immediate assistance at airports and other places, whereas in Sri Lanka, generally, citizens are given less respect and are usually made to wait, than are visitors from the west.

On popular cafes in Kollupitiya

2006-10-20T05:52:00.000+05:30

Gallery Cafe (2, Alfred House Gardens): Nice atmosphere but not comfortable seats for a long stay in restaurant. Dessert range looked rich and delicious. Ideal for short business lunches and meetings and on the expensive side.

Barefoot (706, Galle Road - parking for cafe is through the adjoining side road): Used to be a favourite of mine, both because of the little bookstore with a wide range of books and the riot of colours of the handloom products at the adjoining Barefoot Gallery shop and the great relaxing garden atmosphere. Large portions of food of which I always could not eat more than a quarter of the meal ordered. Very popular cafe among expatriates. Haven't been there for some time and heard that the garden cafe has been re-designed. A photo posted by Dominic Sansoni does not look too comfortable though.

Queen's Cafe (Duplication Road, near Alfred House Gardens): Limited but good menu of sandwiches/submarines. Good banana milkshake as well. Slow service, though. Ideal for lunch as in the evening, it turns into a place for rich teens who love loud music and hanging out around the pool table upstairs.

Cafe on the 5th (5th lane, near Thurstan): Great lunch-time meeting place for friends. A nice house converted to a self-service cafe with outdoor seating. Good Sri Lankan food at extremely cheap prices. Only thing you never know what to expect on the lunch menu, because it depends on the chef, who is not based at the cafe. You can order takeways but you cannot pre-order the curries you would like, the only choice that you can say is whether you would like fish, chicken or vegetarian. There is always one or two pasta dishes at lunch time but they are always doused in sauce. Nothing to recommend the desserts on offer. Better for Sri Lankan main meals.

KANK

2006-10-14T19:57:00.000+05:30

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna is a movie that could have done better without the star cast and with some fresh faces who could bring forth genuine emotions, plus some editing. The story (two married couples growing apart and finally breaking up over an affair and each of them moving on) is fresh for Hindi popular cinema but the acting was mediocre and the movie meandered and dragged through the script.

Cashewnuts drying in the sun

2006-10-14T10:30:00.000+05:30

Cashewnut season in Batticaloa, May 2006

Chokher Bali

2006-10-07T09:26:00.000+05:30

Saw the movie in the tamil dubbed version. Disappointing.

Rituparno Ghosh (Director) has focused on filming Aishwarya Rai, the beautiful woman than Binodhini, the character that she plays in the story.

Being a fan of Rabindranath Tagore's novel writing and the depth he goes into building up each character of his novel and the relationships they form to each other, while developing the story, I was disappointed to see that the movie was more or less a collage of shots of Aishwarya. It is more disappointing as the actors and actresses themselves had huge potential and the movie could have been turned into a great story had the director some clarity.

Undeveloped script. Poor direction.

Saraswathie puja

2006-10-01T09:19:00.000+05:30

Today is Saraswathie puja...

The 10 day Navarathrie festival celebrating the essence of the combined forces of courage, wealth and learning, and culminating in the Saraswathie puja has always had special significance for me.

In Sri Lanka, the 10 day festival that comes usually in October, but sometimes in latter September starts with the first three days dedicated to Goddess Durga (Goddess of Courage), followed by three days for Goddess Laxmi (Goddess of Wealth) and the final three days for Goddess Saraswathie (Goddess of Learning). On the 9th evening, as a culmination to the festival, a special puja at home is conducted and books and other instruments of learning (music, art etc) that one engages in or wishes to engage in is placed before the shrine of the Goddess Saraswathie, along with vegetarian festival offerings such as pongal, awal (mixture of flake rice, jaggery and coconut), vadai and fruit.

The tenth morning, also called the Vijayathasami, is when toddlers who will begin school the coming January are initiated to their formal learning by tracing the first alphabets on a tray of rice grains. Overall, the festival is a quiet and introspective festival, very popular with students. Throughout the 10 days, non-vegetarian food is avoided and only vegetarian food is eaten. Some even observe 'ubavaasam', i.e. fasting the entire day and only taking milk and fruit once a day, after the evening puja, and finally on the 10th day break their fast after the morning puja with rice and vegetables.

All these years, I thought this festival was celebrated the same way by all who did celebrate this festival but last week I discovered that it was not so. While in Sri Lanka, this festival is associated with purity of learning by concentrating the senses and meat is avoided for its impure connotations and only vegetables, fruit and milk is eaten, in Nepal it is more associated with Goddess Durga, the Goddess of courage and war and who according to the myth destroyed the demon who had conquered heaven and earth. For Nepalis, it is a celebration of victory with social visits and in-take of lots of meat.

I searched for articles on how the festival is celebrated in other regions and found this link, which provides a glimpse of how the festival is celebrated in different parts of India. I find that the way the festival is celebrated in Punjab and Kerala is similar to saraswathie puja in Sri Lanka.

Emden Mahan

2006-10-01T08:22:00.000+05:30

or, "Son of Emden".. the title of the movie I watched yesterday.

I looked up Emden after that and came up with the source for this movie released on Sep 7 2006: SMS Emden

Odd though connecting a German WWI war ship to a father... The movie revolves around a authoritarian father (Nasser), who has his family trembling at his approach and yearning for a less hot-tempered father/ husband. The movie captures nicely the relationship of each member of the household with the central figure, especially the father-son relationship, but that is about all it does before wrapping up hurriedly with the incident of the son moving out of the house to marry the one he loves and his father subsequently changing his attitude towards the son.

Nasser and Bharath (though young, he seems to be wisely selecting movies since his entry to the Tamil cinema world at the age of 18 three years ago... Boys, Chellame, 4Students, Kaadhal..) do justice to their role. So does Vadivelu as the maternal uncle and comedian of the movie. Gopika has only a tiny role and that too, mainly in the songs that I fastforwarded. Saranya was a bit of a surprise. Generally good, in this movie, she was not convincing.

An incomplete movie...

Anousheh Ansari

2006-10-01T08:11:00.000+05:30

space blog of the first female space tourist.

Kurtlar Vadisi Irak

2006-09-28T06:45:00.000+05:30

or Valley of the Wolves Iraq, was screened at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism yesterday evening. Two hours of a deeply moving movie, with shocking images.
Though the movie was focused on Iraq, the movie might well have depicted the conditions in any other country facing conflict and war in the world.

A drawback however, was that at times it felt that some of the actors (Billy Zane as Sam Marshall, Gary Busey as the Doctor, Ghassan Mahmoud as Abdurrahman Halis Kerkuki) were simply regurgitating memorized lines, without conviction for the sake of telling the lines to the audience. Also, the music during the encounters of Polat Alemdar and his men and the American forces was a bit out of place.

However, good direction by Serdar Akar and the acting of Necati Sasmaz (Polat Alemdar), Berguzar Korel (Leila) and Kenan Coban (Abdulhey) is good to watch... a definitely "must watch" movie for al!

Light and immediately forgetable...

2006-09-23T18:06:00.000+05:30

Three new tamil movies that can bring a smile to your stressful day, by simply being the usual, light soppy movie, that you think the film-makers would be tired of reproducing and which does not leave any memories of the story thereafter:

(1) Jillunu Oru Kadhal (Surya, Jyothika): The last movie they filmed together before they got married in real life this month.

(2) Unakkum Enakkum Something Something (Jeyam Ravi, Trisha): Truly soppy and the usual teen-love story, in the mould of Maine Pyar Kiya (1989).

(3) Parijatham (Saranya, Prithviraj): Two stories within one movie and not connected to the other in any way. Purely nonsensical but because the scriptwriter and director is K. Bhagyaraj, an experienced director (and who also happens to be the father of the lead actress), he manages to pull the movie to the end.

Water

2006-09-17T18:53:00.000+05:30

Memorable scenes from Water:

Eight-year old Chuyia is asked by her father, "You do remember getting married, don't you?" “No,” says Chuyia simply. Chuyia's father continues, "Your husband is dead and you are now a widow.” Chuyia looks at him with puzzlement and asks earnestly, "For how long Papa?"

When one of the inmates of the ashram says,"Do you remember what being a child was like?", the oldest inmate answers,"I know very well what being a seven year old is like, I got married when I was seven and there were huge ladoos, piping hot gulab jamun..."

Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) asks the priest, "You have studied the Holy Books. Do they tell us to treat our widows so harshly?” Surprised at Shakuntala's questions, Sadananda, slowly answers her. “There are three options from which widows may choose, according to our texts. They may burn with their husbands; live lives of abstinence and piety; or if the family agrees marry their husband’s younger brother.” Sadananda goes on: “However, a law has recently been passed favouring widow re-marriage.” “A law? Why don't we know about it?" Shakuntula responds. Sadananda’s concern deepens. “Men ignore the laws that don't suit them,” he declares solemnly.

Filmed mainly in Sri Lanka after the controversy in India, Water was released and screened this year at the Majestic City cinema in June/July but I missed it then and only saw it today. Sarala as Chuyia is a delight to watch. Congratulations to Deepa Mehta and her team for the beautiful movie!

Link to theatre group...

2006-09-07T21:40:00.000+05:30

Stages Theatre Group

Checkpoint...

2006-09-06T15:53:00.000+05:30

I happened to come across an advertisement for the 'Three strangely normal plays' (Last bus, 24 hours and Forum theatre) and something induced me to buy tickets for the play.

Wasn't disappointed in the least. Great scriptwriting, direction, lighting and acting!

Of the three plays, my favourite is "24 hours", which was acted out in three segments and based on 24 hours in Sri Lankan news from Aug 14th 7a.m. to Aug 15th 7a.m. Wonderful and effective piece of acting. The first segment with the people in black and effectively using brooms to convey the news being narrated was spell-binding. Nice choreography. The 2nd segment - the people auction, managed to convey a sickening sensation of the numbers reeled out in the news on the number killed in conflict. The third segment, where two players played with girl dolls in keeping with the news being broadcasted and their games finally ending with a haunting rhyme being chanted, left the viewer feeling greatly disturbed.

Applaudable script, direction and acting!

The forum theatre was a good exploration of the perspectives of individuals from the Tamil and Sinhalese communities. It was very good in bringing out stereotypes and a situation, where these resp. perspections resulted in conflict. The audience discussion, while bringing to light why different scenarios tended to deepen conflict, rather than resolving them,did not bring to light at least one resolution. I wish the audience feedback could have been streamlined into at least one means of resolving the conflict situation in the drama, instead of leaving the audience with the feeling that the conflict was an inevitable and helpless situation and nothing could really be done to bridge gaps. Thought-provoking, nevertheless!

'Last bus' was good though I liked it third best of the three and mainly because I didn't like the idea that the woman was used as a possession (the play was centered on a man who became a drunkard because a politician stole his wife), and also because the person seated in front of me was blocking my view of the center stage, where the solo-actor was performing. However, it was good acting and I really enjoyed the twist in the play: chewing gum was offered to the audience at the start of the play and it was nicely used in the end. When the drunkard tells the people in the bus that the food and drink he treated them to are from the money given him by the politician for his wife, the narrator says the entire mood in the bus changed and the food stuck in everyone's throats and when he subsequently says that the money he used to treat us, the audience to chewing gum was from the same money, everyone felt really embarassed.

Would love to see more plays from this talented group.

Wrong choices...

2006-09-02T17:43:00.000+05:30

Chose to see two new tamil movies that I thought might be reasonably good but was disappointed:

Amirtham: Poor story development. Scriptwriter and director could have made it engaging to the viewer but script and flow of story was too disjointed. A story about an atheist who loses his life protesting against the demolishing of the village temple after oil was discovered in the village. Poor acting.

Vettaiyadu Villaiyadu: A gory, violent movie. I wish I had not watched it. Surprised that Jyothika even considered acting in it and especially because she had hardly a role in it. Maybe because she wanted to have worked with Kamal Hassan. Anyway, it was a macabre movie.

Karatedo...

2006-08-27T09:03:00.000+05:30

Having a friend who has a blackbelt in Karate, we decided to go for the karatedo matches at the South Asian Games yesterday.

This was the first karate match that I have ever seen and it was interesting to watch, though difficult to understand how the points were being awarded.

The tournament began with a funny moment. A song was played and when some people in the arena stood up, everyone in the crowd stood up and all had a solemn face. My friends thought it was the national anthem of some country but as the song was in Sinhala, I knew it was not. It was funny to see everyone have a solemn face, when the song being played was the tune of a pop song and each stanza ended with the word karate.

A nice Bharathanatyam dance followed, though that also felt out of place in the arena. And, finally the matches began...

I must say the Sri Lankan audience is extremely biased and competitive. Each time a Sri Lankan player came onto the arena, the cheering was enormous but for other countries, no-one cheered.

There was a hugely entertaining and controversial moment when Nepal played Sri Lanka and the referees was continuously awarding the SL player. The Nepal player got angry and simply sat on the floor. Finally, he resumed but in a short while, he again stormed out of the arena. The referee asked him to come back but he refused and so the referee declared SL the winner of the match. The Nepali player decided to protest by sitting on the middle of the arena. The next set of players were ready to play but still the protesting man refused to get up. The worst thing about it was that the entire Sri Lankan audience booed at the protester.

The Nepali coach and others finally managed to get him out of the arena and the next match between Pakistan and Bangladesh started. In the middle of it, the Nepali team ran around the stadium with their flag and finally came down to the arena, past the police who didn't even stop them and disrupted the game. There was a lot of heated argument, during which the four Japanese referees left the arena and went and sat at their tables, till the issue was resolved. The crowd was also asked to be silent and to respect the feelings of the visiting countries.

The matches were then resumed and it ended up with Afghanistan (gold), Pakistan (silver) and Bangladesh (bronze).

During the women's matches, the SL vs. Nepal was marred again. It was a tight match with both reaching 1-1 in the 2 mins and SL winning the tie-breaker. As SL was declared winner, a small ice-pack was thrown by someone in the Nepali team towards the SL side of the arena. And, again pandemonium broke loose with the officials having to talk to the Nepali team and the crowds booing down at the Nepalis.

Bad sportspersonship by the Nepali team as well as the Sri Lankan audience. Anyway, we made some good short video.

After the controversial excitement of the karate matches, the athletics events seemed too bland. It was nice to watch the speed of Susanthika Jayasinghe.

Badminton Finals...

2006-08-24T06:28:00.000+05:30

Dropped by the Sugathadasa Indoor sports stadium on tuesday to watch the badminton finals. Watched three games: Men's singles finals (Niluka Karunaratne, SL vs. Chetan, India and Dinuka Karunaratne, SL vs. India) and Men's doubles' finals (SL vs. India). The women's matches were over by the time we went there but we were there for the awards ceremony for the women's teams: India (Gold), SL (silver) and Pakistan & Nepal (bronze).

South Asian Games 2006

2006-08-20T17:42:00.000+05:30

To be kept posted on the ongoing SAG

Fanaa...

2006-08-20T17:14:00.000+05:30

See the movie

Aamir Khan and Kajol: Good acting as always.

Bloggers on the Gulf News...

2006-07-23T10:02:00.000+05:30

Excerpts from the Gulf News...

"The world is silent. The losses, we have stopped counting them. Some are busy pointing the fingers of blame. And in the midst of all this? The lighthouse, the port, the bridge, the stone, the word, Fairouz, the airport, the child under the rubble, Beirut, Sidon, Tyre, el-Jiyyeh, Tripoli, Baalbeck, Chtura, el-Naqoura, and Lebanon! And Lebanon! And Lebanon …

And the human being."

Source: Lebanese Logger Forum

"We were talking about how many of those who support the disarmament of Hizbullah have been put in a difficult situation. If Hizbullah is criticized, then automatically it's assumed that you're supportive of Israeli aggression, which is not true. The death toll in 7 days has reached close to 250, most of whom are civilians. Who can excuse such a painful reality?"

Source: Lebanese Bloggers

"In a rather futile attempt to show my support for the battered Lebanese nation, I bought myself a Lebanese flag and hung it from my balcony. I know it makes no difference, but it makes me feel like I'm showing some sort of solidarity with this place that has shown me so much hospitality in the past years. Not many people can see it though since my balcony faces the waterfront."

Source: Beirut under Siege

Rang De Basanti

2006-07-01T12:43:00.000+05:30

A great movie, adding to Aamir Khan's hit list... There is a definite trend in all his latest movies - the history lesson incorporated.

The film opens with Sue (Anne Patten), reading her grandfather's diary of his days in pre-independence India and especially of his empathy for a couple of young revolutionaries: Azad (Aamir Khan), Bhagat Singh(Siddharth), Bismil(Atul Kulkarni), Rajguru(Sharman Joshi) and Ashfaqullah Khan(Kunal Kapoor). She is fired and in her resolve to make a film about these revolutionaries, she travels to India and Sonia (Soha Ali Khan Pataudi) helps her to make her film. While Sue becomes disillusioned with the people who audition, she happens to meet some of Sonia's friends and she feels they are ideal for the movie. The group begins making the movie and the transformation they pass through is nicely developed by the movie. Madhavan appears briefly in the movie and is the trigger point that completes the transformation of the group into the characters they play in the movie.

I enjoyed the vibrant movie and the acting. The characters were well selected. Siddarth was a surprise. From an immature boy in "Boys" to a slightly more mature role (where he seemed to lack confidence) in "Ayudha Ezhuluthu", he has emerged strong in Rang De Basanti, in the character of Bhagat Singh.

June. R

2006-02-22T18:30:00.000+06:00

Revathy Varma's debut as a director. I had wanted to watch the movie ever since I heard the unusual title and read an excerpt of the movie but only today was I finally able to see it. I guess the unexpected controversy over Khushboo delayed the release of the movie last year.

I liked the movie. One can ignore the numerous technical faults in the touching movie about the inter-linked lives of three lonely women: June (Jyothika), a young professional yearning for a mother she never knew, Raniamma (Saritha), a middle aged woman who is hurt and saddened by her son's plan to sell their family home and to put her in an old age home and Amudha (Khushboo), the lawyer who takes on pro-bono cases for the discriminated and has adopted three differently-abled children to fulfill her wishes of motherhood. The movie shows us 30 days of a poignant June month in the lives of the three women.

Though the story and direction could have improved further by looking into the practical aspects of the plausibility of the events shown in the movie fitting into a one month's timeframe and the build-up of the relationship between June and Raniamma and other many significant aspects, I guess for the first story concept/ screenplay/ direction venture of Revathy Varma, it is applaudable. Special mention must be made of Jyothika. She is improving her acting skills with each movie.

A peaceful and...

2006-01-14T11:55:00.000+06:00

Happy Thai Pongal, to all!

Soothing music of a flutist...

2005-12-30T21:39:00.000+06:00

Soothing and mellifluous notes from a flute travel up through the night air and draws my attention away from the computer.

Enthralled, I listen to the untrained flutist effortlessly playing the same improvised notes over and over again.

Sen Saal...

2005-10-30T18:59:00.000+06:00

in Thimbirigasyaya road... Recommended for its variety of bread.
The banana bread there is simply delicious.

Amazing Race...

2005-10-29T19:08:00.000+06:00

Just happened to see a bit of the Amazing Race today. I think this is the only reality show, among the current programmes, that I enjoy watching. The Family Edition, this time, is really entertaining.

Visited the MICU...

2005-10-16T21:08:00.000+06:00

After nearly 9 months.

And the nurses recognized me! From my two week stay there. The house doctor even remembered the date of my accident.

What was more touching was that their faces expressed happiness at seeing me recovered and standing up on my feet.

A Buddhist monk...

2005-10-15T19:53:00.000+06:00

and Comparative Economic Development!

Why not?

Contemplating...

2005-10-14T19:27:00.000+06:00

Development Economics

Today is the last day of the Navarathri...

2005-10-12T19:50:00.000+06:00

This has always been my favourite of all religious festivals.

Navarathri - nine nights dedicated to Goddess Durga (Courage), Luxmy (Wealth) and Saraswathi (Creativity and Learning). It is said that learning or any creative pursuit has a good start if begun on the last day of Navarathri.

Today is Gandhi Jayanthi...

2005-10-02T10:49:00.000+06:00

Gandhi Jayanthi is the day celebrating Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.

My first memories of Gandhi Jayanthi were memories from my first school: the Gandhi Memorial International School (GMIS) in Indonesia. This day was a festival day at school and all students were treated to a snack or meal. That was my very first introduction to Gandhi: a birthday party at school and relaxed lessons.

Today is also the birthday of a friend and former colleague. She has a unique birthday tradition of making a garland of flowers and garlanding the little Gandhi statue in the middle of the Batticaloa town, first thing on the mornings of October 2. I was surprised and touched when I learnt of this. Imagine garlanding a statue and paying respect to the great soul that passed by this world, in the middle of a dusty market place. I think this statue must be the only public statue of Gandhi in the whole of Sri Lanka.

A peck on the cheek...

2005-10-02T09:16:00.000+06:00

Saw the last quarter of the movie Kannathil Mutthamittal (A peck on the cheek) on Shakthi TV.

It was really touching and I saw why the movie was titled so. I did not grasp the link between the movie and its title when I first saw it a couple of years ago but yesterday, when I saw the last scene it made complete sense and no other title seems more appropriate. I think the first time I saw it I was in disagreement with the start of the movie, where the parents tell their child on her 9th birthday that she is not their biological daughter.

All the same, it is a really beautiful movie. Mani Ratnam, the director, has worked on portraying the emotions of each and every person in the movie: the child (Keerthana) when she learns the truth about her birth and that her younger siblings are not adopted as well; the mother (Simran) who has raised the child and who does not want her to know the truth and the subsequent pain she undergoes when the child starts to act hostile towards her after learning the truth and especially when she insists she wants to go to her real mother and finally her sacrifice when she finally decides that they must go together in search of the real mother; the younger siblings who are puzzled at the revelation and are not yet able to comprehend how it could be so and who try to support their elder sister's attempt to runaway in search of her mother; the father (Madhavan) who as a social worker had decided to marry to raise this baby he seems connected with but his adherence to his principle of truth forces him to tell her that she is not their biological daughter; the real mother (Nandita Das), whose husband was captured and who had fled to the shores of India from Sri Lanka and given birth to their child but returned to Sri Lanka, in search of her husband and subsequently immersed herself in the cause of the fighters.

My favourite scene from the movie is the scene where the child meets her real mother in the company of her parents. Each shot is exquisite. Each emotion is beautifully etched on each of the faces of the main characters: the two mothers and the child.

I had a very painful lump in my throat when I watched that scene. All the emotions are wrought until relief is brought on by the final scene, the kiss of acceptance.

Wonderful direction by Mani Rathnam who has evoked the best from his actors. Sujatha, the novelist, has produced a beautiful script. And this is one movie where I don't mind the songs. A.R.Rahman has worked hard on his scores and they are all beautifully woven into the movie by the director.

Photograph exhibition...

2005-10-01T19:33:00.000+06:00

Lucy Llwellyn Byard's Sri Lanka: A woman's view photograph exhibition will be on at Harold Peiris Gallery at the Lionel Wendt Gallery till tomorrow.

Lucy has captured minute details of everyday life, a village road, waves, a flower, a dewdrop on a leaf, a fruit, breakfast eggs on a plate, etc. and created a story out of it by capturing it on camera.

A very colourful and visually pleasing range of photographs.

For checking out some of her photographs, visit Lucy's website: What's a girl to do

WOMAD Sri Lanka

2005-09-25T17:54:00.000+06:00

Today is the last day of the 5 day WOMAD festival in Sri Lanka, finishing off with a festival weekend performance at the Galle Face Green.

I did very much want to go for the friday theatre performance featuring Trilok Gurtu, Billy Cobham and Chemirami Zarb Trio at Bishop's College Auditorium, but couldn't make it.

Trying to...

2005-09-08T18:52:00.000+06:00

... configure my email spam protection, as per instructions from my internet service providers.

Reading...

2005-09-06T18:37:00.000+06:00

Crossing Borders