Will Kamal films remain the same again?

The passing away of Vikram Dharma is a big loss to the Tamil film industry. The loss would be felt more severely by Kamal Hassan and his fans. I remember Kamal once saying that guys like Vikram Dharma are so good at what they do that, once you give a job to them you can be rest assured that what you get would be of very high quality indeed. High praise indeed from a hard task master. I would call Dharma's handling of the climax of Virumandi as his best effort ever. The fights in Mahanadi(the jail fight sequence) had that brutal touch of realism, that I still wince when I see Tulukanam puncturing Kamal's scrotch. However the stunt scenes in his other movies were normal, nothing extraordinary, which yet again emphasises the point that however good a cine artist maybe it is the director who brings the best out of them.

Even as I condole the passing away of this integral part of Kamal's team, I am left wondering whether Kamal's action movies will remain the same again?

Zen and the Art of Sleeping

I sent this piece to The Hindu in hope of getting it published and thereby making it big in the literary world. But strangely, THE HINDU took the opposite view about my abilities and decided that it could do better service to the literary world by ignoring this piece and therby the author. With a philosphical shake of head, I decided to put this on my blog. May be one day the Hindu would realise that it had allowed a 24 carat gold to slip through its fingers.Hmmm.....Read it and if you can, enjoy.......BTW this piece is dedicated to Naren,my class mate at IIT, the man who could sleep even while eating.




“You What?”, I screamed.

“I teach people the art of the sleeping”, Naren replied.

I could not get myself to believe this crap. “Naren. Are you telling me that you teach people how to sleep?”

He nodded.

“Can’t they sleep for themselves?”

He shook his head.

“And you make money out of it?” I asked.

“Pots full”

I felt I was in Disneyland. Here was Naren, my college mate whom I had not met for a couple of years now, telling me he earns his pay packet teaching others to fall asleep. And we all thought he was pursuing his research career at TIFR.

“Yes. I am still pursuing science. But you know…that does not pay a lot. Science is my intellectual passion but I also have a girl friend to entertain these days.”

That was news to me.

“Great going, boss.” I congratulated him. We walked into a nearby restaurant.


“But tell me Naren, how did this thing start?”

“You do know that I can fall asleep anytime, anyplace. So I thought I could make money out of this strength of mine.”

“Make money out of your weakness, you mean”.

“You could say that. “, he replied grinning.

To make a living (pretty luxurious one at that) out of one’s weakness is probably the greatest gift the creator could probably bestow upon one. Naren was bloody lucky.

Years rolled back. Naren had easily established his reputation as the incomparable sleeper in college. He slept when in class, he slept when in hostel, he slept in the lab, he slept in the bathroom and of course in that most private den of all loners, the… ahem…rest room.

People yawn when bored. Yawning is the first sign that the brain is tired and needs rest. Naren did away with all that meaningless symbolism. He straight away drifted into sleep. The strategy he adopted for sleeping without getting caught in the class room is probably worth a scientific study. Where one to list the steps, it would be something like this.

1) Seat yourself behind reasonably tall guys. Girls, however tall won’t do, because they are always bending down taking notes. Most guys don’t bother indulging in this meaningless activity.

2) Don’t take the back benches. Teachers are always watching the back benchers. The middle of the class is probably the best place to be seated if you want to sleep.

3) Position yourself as if you are taking down notes. The head needs to be at the correct angle to the desk. If you bend the head too much, the teacher gets suspicious.

4) And the most important point to be noted. Don’t nod your head while sleeping. Even a kindergarten kid knows that the nodding father is not listening to its banter.

With so much strategy and planning going into his snooze, it can come as no surprise that he was the most successful sleeper in the class. He was the role model and a source of inspiration for all those unlucky comrades who were often caught napping in the class room. Though he did not publish a “How to stop listening and start sleeping” to enlighten the rest of the world, he was kind enough to give us beleaguered junta a few vital hints towards successful sleeping in the class.

But for a long time I had my doubts about his capabilities. It is all fine sleeping when the teacher drones on. It probably acts as a lullaby, sedating and gently lulling one into sleep. But what when the environment is not as cozy and silent as in a restroom or a classroom? Will our hero be able to catch his forty winks then? I never voiced my doubts, but they persisted in my mind. But I realised that I had wronged the genius by doubting his ability, when he slept undisturbed sitting in the first row at Sathyam theatre. We had gone to watch that extremely noisy movie “Lord of the Rings”. He once again proved his calibre when he slept undisturbed while we were watching “Virumandi”, another noisy movie, on the second day of its release, along side a lot of vociferous Kamal fans who were having a gala time screaming and shouting at the top of their voices.

The crashing of a glass at the next table brought me back to the present. No wonder that Naren choose to indulge in something which is child’s play to him. I looked at him sitting across the table at the restaurant. The guy was obviously rolling in the stuff. He had all signs of prosperity including the pot belly.


“So how do you teach? Do you teach at your place or teach at some Yoga class”, I asked.

“No…You seem to have got the wrong picture. I don’t do it in a small scale. I basically deal with guys in the corporate world and all the school going kids. They are the ones who have forgotten how to sleep. They are the ones who need to be taught to sleep. I go to the offices and schools with my full retinue of disciples and give live demonstrations on happy sleeping”, replied Naren.

“Disciples…?” My eyes popped out. “Do you go about under some assumed name. Some Sleepananda or Snoozeananda.”, I cried.


“Hey! Don’t be gross. My disciples call me ‘Maharishi NithyaNidreshawara’”.

“Maharishi nizznzwzz…?”

“NityaNidreshwara. Nitya means daily and Nidra means sleep. I am the One who is giving them their daily quota of sleep”

I was flabbergasted. My eyes by then had got used to their popped out position and my mouth had long since refused to close.

“In an age where sleep is at best considered a luxury and at worst a waste of time, one has to really teach people the value of a good sleep. Sleep is the first thing to be cut when we are forced to find extra time. But do we realise that we can never hope to be more efficient by cutting down on our sleep? This has been my personal experience and I take it across to the millions in this land which is fast taking over the mantle of the ‘Country That Never Sleeps’”, Naren lectured.

“Hope you don’t charge me for this lecture”, I quipped.

“I have a series of lecture demonstrations in Chennai this week. So do attend. I will send you the invitation”, he offered.

“What is the name of this lecture series?”, I asked.

“Zen and the Art of Sleeping.” he replied

“Fine.I will surely come. But….”, I dragged

“Yes?”

“Why Zen?” I enquired as he got into his car.

“Because anything Zen seems to sell, be it car or sleep”, he smiled and drove away, leaving me dazed and direly in need of sleep.

A serious post for once....ok this is what I call serious

An interesting thought disguised as a joke.....(not mine ofcourse)

A rat runs through a maze clutching a chesse piece and shouts to it mate,
"Mark..you know what, I have Dr Zimbostsky trained. He gives me a cheese piece whenever I go through the maze."

Reminds me of a story in Viktan. A group goes to Ooty on a fun trip. Two people seperate from the main group and after sometime they are unable to locate the group. The guys in the group go over to the nearby police station and inform that two folks are missing from their party.At the same time elsewhere, the two guys go to a different station and write a complaint saying that their whole group is lost somewhere. So would you call the two guys crazy. I wouldn't.

A Lara gem atlast

Atlast we got to see Lara magic, albiet of different sort, against India. It has always surprised me and many others too, that the man who mastered Murali,the guy who has often send the Aussies on a leather hunt, was never very successful against India of all teams. It was not that he struggled against them. I think he feels Indians are easy to score against(except probably Kumble). Many a time he has got out to loose shots, trying too early in the innings to dictate terms like the first innings dismissal at Antigua.

Yesterday's innings was a different sort of gem, once again emphasising the fact that Lara can do anything he wants when he sets his mind to the task. 120 from more than 300 balls is the sort of innings one would expect of lesser mortals. But on a final day track with draw the only option he produced what could arguably be one of his best innings taken in the context of the match. This draw I believe would go a long way in determining the series. If the weather holds for the next two test matches, and if St Kitts and Sabina Park produce faster and greener pitches than what we have seen so far in the series, then I think the Indians would be in for a bit of a surprise.

A bearded addendum

Looking at my bearded reflection in the mirror, I felt a sudden 'grandchild'ly feeling towards one ancient member of the bearded brethren. One "Mylapore man, sitting near Sanskrit College".... .



The oldest known genius from the land(Tamil Nadu) which has produced many, today he is largely ignored. The english speaking Tamil kids of today probably know more about Hammurabi's Code than Mr Valluvar's 1330 kurals.

PS:Valluvar's beard has always amazed me. A marvellous specimen that.