"You don't stop riding when you get old, you get old when you stop riding." ― Anonymous The Blog - Why now? Writing the blog about our first southern odyssey twenty five years after we made the trip was one of most difficult tasks I took up in life; Romancing the RX-100 – A Southern Odyssey... Continue Reading →
Asokamitran became one of the most influential writers in Tamil literature. A prolific writer, he began writing in 1953 and produced more than 200 short stories, eight novels and 15 novellas. His novels on the celluloid industry, 'The Star Crossed' and 'Manosarovar' are all time classics. He portrayed the struggling urban middle class in most... Continue Reading →
The stories where children are the main charecters always have a special place in my heart. The great writers bring them to life and long after you have read their stories, you keep wondering what would they be doing now. Pappathi in Sujatha's Nagaram – City – Sujatha does not speak a word. But Rachna, my... Continue Reading →
I think writing humorous stories is more difficult than writing a heart-wrenching hundred pages tome. Only few writers could do that successfully. Wodehouse could write hundreds of novels which could keep you laughing for hours but he was one of his kind. In Tamil, Devan was very successful and his Thuppariyum Sambu (deductive Sambu was... Continue Reading →
Emden: The first word for which I learnt etymology is Emden. I did not know the word etymology meant then. My father used this expression, ‘He is an Emden.’ We could understand what he meant by that remark in a particular conversation. It could be, he was praising some colleague’s capability or someone who pulled... Continue Reading →
I wanted to write this blog last week to coincide with the birthday of Rituparno Ghosh (August 31st), an accomplished director of Bengali Cinema; but it also happened to be Krishna Jayanthi, the day Lord Krishna was born. So Krishna took precedence and the story about Ghosh's movie is appearing this week. The Tamil film... Continue Reading →
The Hindu festival season has begun which will run for about six months. The grand celebrations start in August for Nombu followed by Krsihna Jayanthi (aka Gokulashtami/Janmashtami) and ends in Pongal (mainly a harvest festival). Each festival is dedicated to a particular God and with 3000 or so Gods you can have ten festivals a... Continue Reading →
I have translated few of Sujatha's short stories here including his best short story Nagaram – City – Sujatha. I selected this story for only one reason. I grew up near Ayodya Mandapam in West Mambalm. We used to go there for religious discourses when we were students. Also during the music sesaon in winter (if... Continue Reading →
Siddhas- சித்தர்கள் - were intellectual people, born in present day Tamil Nadu and known to who have attained mukti or nirvana. Not just philosophers, they also wrote about science, medicine, arts, literature and many other subjects. Some of their ideologies are considered to have originated during first Sangam period (4400 BCE). Sample a gem: காயமே இது பொய்யடா- வெறும் காற்றடைத்த... Continue Reading →
