Amir and me...

My recent past had me traveling across US with long flight journeys and even longer layovers which gave me ample time to finish "The Kite Runner", the book I wanted to read for a long time. There are few books which can pull you physically into it, make you laugh, make you think, make you shed a tear... and haunt you for days to come and this - was one of those! A very close contender to "Shantaram" - my favorite fiction yet!

I could relate to "Amir" the narrator and by relate I just don't mean that I could empathize with him, I was able to relate certain incidents in my life - the bygone memories. It was as if Amir sat and watched all of my life so far from around the corner and after 25 years he stopped watching and told me a story from the darkest parts of it and made me relive those days! Those days which I never thought I could remember!

Whenever you read a good book, or finish reading it, it will leave you with questions... questions which are very personal.. very clandestine.. questions which you are afraid to ask yourself.. or to others. Or to put it better, only those are good books! :)

And the questions this book left me with, have no right or wrong answers.Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer. From those questions I would like to share a few.. these questions really meant something to me..

One might wonder how can "The kite runner" rise such questions... but you have to be me to undergo the thought process it took to land on each and every one of these questions!

• How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
  
• If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
  
• When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
  
• What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
  
• If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?

• Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
  
• If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
  
• To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
  
• Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
  
• If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
  
• Would you break the law to save a loved one?
  
• Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
  
• What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
  
• How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
  
• What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?
  
• What’s holding you back?
  
• Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
  
• If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
  
• Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
  
• Why are you, you?
  
• What does friendship mean to you? or to anyone?
• Why is it so important?
  
• Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
  
• What are you most grateful for?
  
• Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
  
• Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
  
• Has your greatest fear ever come true?
  
• Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
  
• What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
  
• At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
  
• If not now, then when?
  
• If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
  
• Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
  
• If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
  
• Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
  
• Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
  
• When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
  
• If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
  
• Why are we always so afraid to make a mistake? After all we are going to learn from it!
  
• What would you do you knew nobody would judge you?
  
• When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
  
• What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
  
• In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
• Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?
• If others are making it for you, do you really want them to?
  

Happy thinking folks! :)

50 simple pleasures...

# When someone unexpectedly says exactly what you needed and wanted to hear.

# Waking up to a bright and sunny morning after a night of thunderstorms and rain.

# Snooze button : Keeping the dream alive :)

# A moment of déjà vu.

# Learn keyboard shortcuts.

# Watching a baby - falling asleep

# Figuring out the plot twist of a movie just before they reveal it or way ahead of it!

# Reviewing digital photos two seconds after you take them.

# When a large file unexpectedly downloads really fast.

# Eating the little bit of yogurt or ice cream that gets stuck to the bottom of the container.

# When the person scratching your back finds that one really itchy spot.

# When you pick something up and it’s way lighter than you expected it to be.

# Talking into a fan and listening to your voice sound like a robot. :D

# Piecing together some juicy gossip via other people’s Facebook status updates.

# Eating whatever you’re cooking while you’re cooking it and liking it.

# Immediately finding the start to a roll of tape.

# Using Google to spell check.

# Finding that perfect spot when you’re in a cocoon of blankets and pillows.

# Picking someone up curbside at the airport on the first try without having to loop around the terminal.

# The way you and your best friends can act like total retards together and have no shame.

# That huge sense of relief when you find your cell phone after you thought you lost it.

# In the car, waving to a random kid and having them actually wave back.

# When you high five a friend and you both miss.

# Looking in the fridge for no reason when you’re bored.

# Yelling at a video game when you get killed.

# That moment when someone says, “You’re not even listening to me. Repeat what I just said.” And then you do perfectly and they look dumbfounded.

# The goofy look on people’s faces when they wake up.

# The first hour of a long road trip when everyone is still super excited.

# Laughing at something you just saw with a complete stranger who just happened to see it too.

# Telling Microsoft Word to “Ignore All” spelling mistakes for your name.

# When your fortune cookie’s fortune totally applies to what’s going on in your life right now.

# When you call in sick all of a sudden when India plays Pakistan on a Wednesday morning 4 AM

# Watching India win the world cup with that special person!

# A really, really... really quiet corner of the library.

# Lazy Sundays when you don’t leave the house a single time all day.

# Gazing at the city below from the window seat.

# Random drive to unknown places making sure that the GPS is with you.

# "Wanting" to not give a darn what anyone else thinks and living life the way YOU want to live... note: "Wanting to.." :)

# When you're eating pizza or mozzarella sticks and the cheese stretches way farther than usual.

# When you're hot under your bed covers and you stick one leg out from under the covers to cool off.

# This : "Where’s my phone?" "I'll call it!" "It’s on vibrate!!" "Everyone SHHHHHHHH!!!" “I hear it!”

# The five minutes just before the school bell rings at the end of the day...tick-tock-tick-tock..

# Controlling the urge of sneaking to the last chapter of that incredible book!

# Inbox (1)

# Cherry blossoms

# Being next in line.

# Rajini movie - first day first show - wherever you are!

# Finding a random note from long back.

# Walking bare-foot..

# Hearing someone sing cheerfully to themselves.

PS: எத்தனை கோடி இன்பம் வைத்தாய் எங்கள் இறைவா! இறைவா! இறைவா!

On the verge of Stranger Tides...

.. I started watching a series of movies from the beginning...

I am nearly 25 years old. A sober young man. Single. I have now sat through hundreds of movies alone and with friends. Many of which I have enjoyed. And I am not completely hardened in my sophistication. The opening music to The Lion King brought tears to my eyes even now. But still, these are after all just children's movies. In another life, I would never have seen them. And, really, one can't take such movies too seriously, can one?

And one summer, I dutifully trudged into yet another Disney "adventure" movie. Named after that tired old ride in Anaheim. I mean really, how much can you expect?

And then, it happened. The swirling intoxication. The stunned feeling. What? Who? How? Was this a movie? Or a religious experience? Perhaps more like an addictive experience...

I cannot remember ever willingly paying to see any movie not starring Rajini or Kamal more than twice, and I can count those movies on one hand. I have now seen "Pirates" SEVERAL times. The only thing keeping me from seeing it again is the sense that this whole thing is just getting out of hand. I cannot get enough of it. It's like walking into a painting that you never want to come back out of. My parents ask, with a note of concern in their voices, "So, you really like Pirates of the Caribbean a lot, don't you?"

And Depp!! My God. I never had any idea who he was, but his name sounded like something created for a pubescent cover-boy for magazines published to hook thirteen year-old girls on make-up and bad music.

I am straight. I have few good friends who are gay, but have never fantasized about any gender but the female. But now I understand how women can experience swooning crushes on male film stars. He is simply extraordinary. So sly, so seductive, so canny! I read an interview in which Depp said he went through a slight depression when he had to stop playing Captain Jack Sparrow. I can see why. His inventiveness and sheer pleasure in inhabiting the character come through in every frame.

And, in a time when many big-budget movies are little more than a hodge-podge of loosely- connected "money shots" this movie puts all the pieces together, with a sense of fun and light-heartedness in special effects that are simply dazzling. I find myself laughing with dizzy appreciation when Barbossa barks out, "You'd best be believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner, you're in one!" and the grinning skeletons come into view, with Badelt's pounding score keeping time to the beat of their maniacal deck-swabbing. And then there's the scene of the pirate-ghouls slithering up from the darkened sea on the mooring cables of the Dauntless, like infernal cats stalking their prey.

And now to the music. To me, it is absolutely transporting.

Perhaps I am just losing my grip, having a movie get to me this way. But when those final credits roll, and Captain Jack narrows his eyes and says, "Now, bring me that horizon. Drink up me hearties, yo ho" and the music swells ... it is difficult to put into words the effect it has.

This is not just another "entry" in the blockbuster sweepstakes. It is an exquisite work of fantasy and inventiveness, a true classic, on the order of "The Wizard of Oz", "Indiana Jones", I do hope Depp's performance garners a place in the pantheon, of our generation to show our children and grandchildren like a revealed treasure. I cannot recall any movie having such an effect on me...

Hats off Depp! We love Jack Sparrow! And we want more.. Savvy?

கண்ணீர்

பூட்டா?...

சாவியா?

The R factor!

This was created/compiled when there was a Rajini rage post Enthiran. Though its kind of late, its still Rajini!

Rajinikanth knows Victoria’s secret.

Rajini CAN talk about the Fight Club

When God watched Enthiran climax, he gasped - "Oh my Rajini"!

Rajinikant has a wax statue of Madame Tussauds in his house.

The missing piece in APPLE logo was eaten by Rajinikanth!!

Rajnikanth is the secret of Boost!

When Rajinikanth smokes, he gives cancer to the cigarettes!!

Dogs do it the Rajinikanth-style !!

Once death had a near rajinikanth experience !

When Rajinikanth plays Monopoly, it affects the actual world economy.

If Rajnikanth pokes you on facebook, you will bleed...!

Rajinikanth predicted Nostradamus' birth

RajInikanth let the dogs out!

Rajanikanth never ever failed in any exam, while everyone else in the class always failed, because whatever he wrote was the answer!

No one but Rajinikanth knows the answer to this question "Choli ke peeche kya hai?"

Intel's new Tag line - "Rajinikanth Inside"

Rajinikanth verified Twitter

Mark zuckerberg sent Rajini a friend request! (nobody knows he declined it ;))

Rajinikanth wrote a cheque... And the bank bounced back.

Neil Armstrong’s famous line on the moon was: “One giant leap for mankind, a small step for Rajinikanth”

Edison did 1000 mistakes to get one bulb... had he come to Rajinikanth, he would've got one straight away!

Rajinikanth kills Harry Potter in the eighth book.

Rajinikanth once ordered a plate of idli in McDonald’s, and got it faster than its french fries.

Rajinikanth had died 20 yrs ago..death hasn’t built up the courage to tell him yet.

Jesus can walk on water ...but Rajinikanth can swim through land..!

Bill Gates lives in constant fear that Rajinikanth’s PC will crash.

Only Rajini knows How I met your mother!

கவிதை அல்ல.. ஆக்கிக்கொள்ளலாம்... 5

வீடு வரையும் குழந்தைகள்,

வீடுகள் மட்டும் வரைவதில்லை...

சொல்காய்ச்சி மரம்

இப்போதெல்லாம்

சொல்காய்ச்சி மரமாகிவிட்டது

மனம்..

சொல் விழுந்த இடங்களில்

மற்றுமோர் மனம் முளைக்கிறது.

மறுபடி முளைத்து

மறுபடி கிளைத்து

மனங்கள் பெருகிப் பெருகிப்

பெருகியபடியிருக்க

முடிவில்

எல்லைகளில்லாப்

பெருவனமாகிறேன் நான்.

வனத்திற்குள் வழிகளுண்டா?

வனத்திற்கு வாசல்களுண்டா?

வனமில்லா இடமேதும் உண்டா?

தெரியவில்லை..

உச்சரிக்கவிரும்பா உதடுகள் இப்போது

மெளனம் பேசப் பழகுகின்றன.

நினைவுகள் உரசிக்கொண்டதில் மெதுவாய்

வெந்து தணிகிறது காடு...