Abhiyum Nanum

Another movie on Father - Daughter affection. Rekindled my long suffering longing for a daughter.... but all this is getting a little cloying - too much father sentiment. Of course for far too long mothers have been glorified, and its about time fathers got their due recognition, but this is too much lar....

But I most enjoyed the mastery of Prakash Raj's acting. Which overshadows and eclipses almost everything else in the movie. Even the sardarji who Abhi wants to marry. To make the sardarji palatable, the story line has the PM himself calling him on the phone (PM being a sardarji himeself was not explicitly mentioned he he he). And Abhi's mum is just a part of the background.

Naan Kadavul

I got this email today, and just had to record it here, verbatim, for posterity.

Subject: Naan Kadavul - A must watch movie releasing for Ponggal (Jan 15th 2009)
The secrets of Naan kadavul has been kept in secret till now. This movie is almost nearing completion and in an scoop interview to a Tamil rag, the director has confessed some of the closely guarded secrets of the movie. Naan Kadavul is mostly shot in the banks of the Hindu sanctum river Ganges and opens with Arya’s rudradadavam in the shorings of the Ganges. When retrieving an incident during the shooting, Bala adverted that a Sadhu visited the spot after hearing the song "Orumurayaa Irumurayaa" composed by Maestro Ilayaraja and did not leave place till the song gets over. "He heralds from northern India and did not infer a word of Tamil, But still, I could see tears running down his cheeks towards the end of the song,"
Bala added. The Sadhu touched Bala’s feet before leaving mentioning that he could trace the meaning of the song without understanding the language. 'Such was the baron of music and that was when I agnised Ilayaraja’s music has no boundaries,' Bala further said.
Bala has brought to light the lives of Agory Sadhus, who are said to be cannibals surviving on the dead in the banks of river Ganga, for the first time in Indian cinema. The movie also concenters on the lives of physically and mentally challenged people and beggars.
"I wanted to engage real people in the movie and hence we had to interact with such people a lot to make them extradite the dialogues perfectly," Bala added.
Arya plays an Agory in this movie. There are certain scenes of Arya devouring Pooja’s dead body which might pay for trouble from the censor board. However, Bala has an equally powerful climax scene in hand just suppose if the censor officials raise concern.
Besides, Bala disclosed that the climax fight scene took about one month to shoot. He said that the fight scenes would be real and they had to work for a month to that effect. Thus this movie seems to convey a typical work of Bala. Let's wait for the movie to be released.

Night

The ramifications were astounding. Why should this happen at this very moment ? A question which was on everyone mind, but had no answer. The car crawled along. The rain was incessant, with flowers intermittently woven in. Ram looked down at the instrument. The strings were frayed. The sound of the dog barking made him look up. It was Jeannie. "The doorbell is not working!". Carmen stood up. It was getting dark, and she wanted to get back to Vegas before midnight. The cards were still face up. Madhu pushed the wad of money forward. "This is my last stand," he sounded tired. Ron dealt. Just then Vishwa entered. He was dragging the coffin. "What the hell is that?", Latha was shocked. Everyone looked at her. The coffin was opened. It was full of cash. Ram strarted strumming. The notes were haunting. Suddenly the doorbell sounded. Ram looked at Jeannie questioningly. At the door, the undertaker was standing with his assistants. They had another coffin with them. "Go away! We don't need you!", Jeannie shouted. Ram strummed the guitar again. Soon the only sounds were those of soft snoring. Outside, the full moon shone down on the house. An owl hooted briefly. Then there was complete silence.

THE ASVALAYANA GRIHYA SUTRA

Most of the questions referring to the Grihya-sûtra of Âsvalâyana will be treated more conveniently in connection with the different subjects which we shall have to discuss in our the Grihya-sûtras. Here I wish only to call attention to a well-known passage of Shadgurusishya, in which that commentator gives some statements on the works composed by Âsvalâyana and by his teacher Saunaka. As an important point in that passage has, as far as I can see, been misunderstood by several eminent scholars, I may perhaps be allowed here to try and correct that misunderstanding, though the point stands in a less direct connection with the Grihya-sûtra than with another side of the literary activity of Âsvalâyana. Before speaking of Âsvalâyana, makes the following statements with regard to Âsvalâyana's teacher, Saunaka. 'There was,' he says, 'the Sâkala Samhitâ (of the Rig-veda), and the Bâshkala Samhitâ; following these two Samhitâs and the twenty-one Brâhmanas, adopting principally the Aitareyaka and supplementing it by the other texts, he who was revered by the whole number of great Rishis composed the first Kalpa-sûtra.' He then goes on to speak of Âsvalâyana—'Saunaka's pupil was the venerable Âsvalâyana. He who knew everything he had learnt from that teacher, composed a Sûtra and announced (to Saunaka that he had done so)Saunaka then destroyed his own Sûtra, and determined that Âsvalâyana's Sûtra should be adopted by the students of that Vedic Sâkhâ. Thus, says Shadgurusishya, there were twelve works of Saunaka by which a correct knowledge of the Rig-veda was preserved, and three works of Âsvalâyana. Saunaka's dasa granthâs were, the five Anukramanîs, the two Vidbânas, the Bârhaddaivata, the Prâtisâkhya, and a Smârta work Âsvalâyana, on the other hand, composed the Srauta-sûtra in twelve Adhyâyas, the Grihya in four Adhyâyas, and the fourth Âranyaka: this is Âsvalâyana's great Sûtra composition Here we have an interesting and important statement by which the authorship of a part of the Aitareyâranyaka, which would thus be separated from the rest of that text, is ascribed, not to Mahidâsa Aitareya, but to an author of what may be called the historical period of Vedic antiquity, to Âsvalâyana. But what is the fourth Âranyaka to which this passage refers? Is it the text which is now set down, for instance, in Dr. Râgendralâla Mitra's edition, as the fourth Âranyaka of the Aitareyinas? Before we give an answer to this question, attention must be called to other passages referring, as it could seem, to another part, namely, the fifth part of the Âranyaka. Sâyana, in his great commentary on the Rig-veda, very frequently quotes the pañkamâranyaka as belonging to Saunaka. Thus in vol. i, p. 112, ed. Max Müller, he says: pañkamâranyaka aushnihatrikâsîtir iti khande Saunakena sûtritam surûpakritnum ûtaya iti trîny endra sânasim rayim iti dve iti. There is indeed in the fifth Âranyaka a chapter beginning with the words aushnihi trikâsîtih, in which the words quoted by Sâyana occur. Similar quotations, in which the fifth Âranyaka is assigned to Saunaka, are found in Sâyana's commentary on the Âranyaka itself; More later .

The Pancha Bootha Temples

Ekambareswarar Temple in Kanchipuram. Shiva is worshipped as Prithvi Lingam, symbolizing earth - one of the five primordial elements. The Lingam itself is made of earth, and no abhishekam is done to it.

Sri Kalahasthi, the Temple dedicated to Vayu, whose presence is evident by a continuous flame which flickers though there is no way for air to enter the temple.

Chidambaram, associated with Nataraja, or Shiva in his Ananda Tandava pose also worshipped in the "formless form" of the Chidambara Rahasyam, while the temple is known for its Akasa Lingam, an embodiment of Shiva as the formless Space.

At Thiruvannamalai, Lord Siva in the fire element makes the inner sanctum a virtual furnace, heat emanating from the Shivalingam.

Thiruvanaikaval, near Thirichirapalli is dedicated to the water element. The main deity, Jambukeswara representing the element Water, sits under a Jambu tree over a small stream that engulfs the deity during the rainy season.

Aurangzeb

In Mathura, we were at the birthplace of Lord Krishna. What we saw was a huge mosque ! It was heavily barricaded with barbed wire and high fences, and soldiers swarmed everywhere. Beside it was a temple of sorts. We were told that the actual birthplace was under the mosque, which had been built after the original temple had been destroyed.

In Kasi, the Vishvanath Temple too had a mosque beside it, towering above the temple gopuram. The fortifications, barbed wire and soldiers were present here as well. The Nandi was facing the mosque. Our guide explained that the original Shiva Lingam was located where the mosque stands now. The present temple was rebuilt next to the original site.

At Ayothya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, it was even worse. The mosque which used to stand at the spot where Lord Rama was born had also been demolished. It was a barren area and the army fortifications were most severe. We had to pass through at least 5 checkpoints, and walk through a cagelike walkway over nearly a kilometre, to see idols of Lord Rama installed in a tent.

It was during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who was such a passionate Muslim (was he ?) that he decided to demolish many Hindu Temples, foremost among them being the three temples at Kasi, Mathura and Ayothya. He built Mosques in the spots where the temples used to stand. In hindsight, he has done more disservice to Islam than anything else.

On returning , I read up a little on the atrocities of Aurangzeb (as well as other Mughal Emperors). It was frightening, what some of these barbarians did in the name of Islam. Unfortunately his follies still stand, as a sore reminder of what a misguided person in power can do to discredit a great religion.

Going to war ? Get a Vios.

Never knew the Vios was such a tough one. It actually pulverised a (so-called) armoured vehicle and came out unscathed. Eight soldiers riding in the apparent safety of the armored car were hurt in the accident, after which the armoured vehicle had to be towed away. The driver of the car escaped unharmed while his car boot was partially damaged. Go get a Vios.

The Yatra

An amazing experience, to say the least. We travelled severeal thousand kilometers. From KL to Chennai, to Rameswaram, Kasi and back to Rameswaram before returning to Chennai and home .

The first part of the yatra itself was at Devipatnam near to Rameswaram. What we saw was Navagrahas installed in the sea, about a hundred feet from the shoreline. The idols were reportedly installed by Lord Rama himself, and were part submerged in the sea. We bathed in the sea before doing navagraha pooja. As soon as we finished, a brief but intense thunderstorm blanketed the place.

Next stop, Rameswaram. A place where many of the incidents related in the ramayana took place....