Planet TCE_beta

I liked the movie very much, it lived up to my expectations, looks like this is the best comment that can be made. Generalization might lead to argument. The movie has created mixed response and has kept people at two extremes, one who feel the movie is too good and another section who feel the movie too sentimental and moves at snail’s pace. I was totally mesmerized by the movie and would love to see the movie once again. The story is about the life of younger version of Surya guided by his affable and responsible father, who is none other than the older version of Surya. I am not revealing the storyline more than this. Gautam Menon and Surya’s hard work needs to be applauded, as they have worked really hard and achived success in showing the transition of Surya as ages from a mischievous school student to responsible Major in Indian army. What happens in between forms the story.

Though it is Surya who occupies every frame, the three heroines have used the little opportunities and make a little impression. The highlights of the movie are the songs and the romantic scenes between Surya and Sameera. Thamari’s lyrics blended with Harris Jayaraj music and Surya’s dance add strength to the movie. Almost all Surya’s dialogue seem to begin with “Daddy” which tests your patience a bit. I am not sure about how many people will accept Surya’s family using English to converse most of the times, even in critical situation they seem to stay away from their mother tongue. We have no clue on Gautam’s  choice but it does suggest that the movie is intended for only one section of the audience. Other than the movie is great and does make an impact. It is better not to believe the reviews as there is a very high probability of you ending up liking the movie. Hope this film turns out to be a hit.

This is going to be a review of the first ever Tamil novel i read recently and not about a junk tamil movie that got released in 2005. The book turned out to be quite interesting one. I was struck by Kalki’s imagination, it appears as though everything happens right in front of the eyes. His depiction and the way the characters are introduces is awesome. So elaborate in explanation and so poetic in description kalki wins easily in delivering what was intended. The book also gave a great insight into the Tamil Nadu history and about the medeival chozha empire. The book gives a good description about most of the kings, clans and habits that existed during that time period. Kalki makes use of every available opportunity to provide some historical reference. His characters also highlight the practices that was followed during that time. There were places where Kalki changes the history for the sake of the story, but they were acceptable.

The story starts with “Vallavaraiyan Vanthiyathevan” a vanar kulam prince, taking a message from Aditya Karikalan to his sister Kundavai and king. Later the story plunges into the fight for the chozha throne with  unimaginable stories inter wined which keeps you thinking till you complete the end of the story. Believe me even after the story ends, you might be confused about few parts of the book.  He takes you through the city and Kalki explains the history and beauty of the cities through his eyes and thoughts. His job does not end with that and he gets tasks one by one and we are mostly introduced to the characters through him. Just like the cities,  Kalki explains the beauty of the princesses and their nature through Vanthiyathevan eyes. Kalki provides a very very elaborate description about the characters when they are introduced into the story, so that you get a mental picture of the character. That is the strength of the novel. Kalki has the strength to make you like a character or make it detestable. Kalki imagination seems to gone a bit higher whenever the princesses are involved. The comparisons he makes to compare their beauty is unmatchable.  One more interesting character is Azhwarkadiyaan, it is through him Kalki portrays the feud that existed between  shaivaites and vaishnavaites at that time. Vanthiyathevan is the most adorable character in the book  and at times he steals the limelight from the actual “Ponniyin Selvan“. The princesses Kundavai, Vanathi, Poonguzhali and Nandini are lovable. There are many other characters involved in the book who are important in their own aspect, which you will know when you read the book. Once i started reading the first volume, i could not control my curiosity and i kept reading till i completed it. I am planning to read it once again, as i am completely mesmerized by the book. It does deserve a second reading. Also next in line is “Sivakaamiyin Sabatham” and “Parthiban Kanavu” from Kalki.

Suggestion: Better grab a copy instead of searching for online copies. The book is too good to get disappointed and does not cost much also.

Here is an interesting article from Sci Am , suggesting the existence of a pre-bang universe ,which would have imploded and then exploded to form the Universe we live in…

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=big-bang-or-big-bounce&SID=mail&sc=emailfriend

I have been having a nightmare for the past few days, since I got an account created for me in one of our company’s local server. The trouble is that the server running a nice operating system has only “vi”.  I really don’t know why when every other server has both vi and emacsAnd for someone who is used to emacs alone for the past few years(about 3 to 4 years ), moving to vi is a great nightmare. And the fact that it has no other editors, not even nano or pico is really troubling me. I often end up pressing Ctrl+e or Ctrl+A and something wierd happens.

And since it is not even vim, but plain old vi, it has made me start a frantic serach for possible ways of using vi with emacs key combinations. Any help from anyone ?

    Hi folks, another long gap. I had been trying to work with Py3k, but in vain. I had not updated myself even to Python 2.6, when I read about the release of RC1 for python 3.0(Py3k), and its documentation I was totally stunned to know that everything right from the basic “print” statement to the use of strings has changed. When I weent through the “What’s new”, I just understod that my knowledge has been just repositioned to 0(Though I need to agree that it was always close to zero ).

      Looking at all these, I am certain that all my previous code will shout hundreds of errors when I use the python3.0 interpreter with those code. Also, I had the habit of working with the python interpreter shell for quick needs. And now am getting errors very very frequesntly with that. Though I had been reading about the huge changes between the 2.x versions and the (then)impending 3.0 version for the past few months, I didn’t realise how grave it was until I started using the new version.

    Luckily, they have a converter that will convert code from the 2.6 version to the Py3k. And it seems they had made 2.6 with an hint of the appraoching storm. So, I think the best way to convert any old 2.x code of mine,  that I might want to use, to 3.0 is to convert the code to 2.6 first and then to 3.0 using the converter.

     Oh God, I think I have a new language to learn before I can say “I know something in Python”.

I recently read an article on Martin Luther King and the power of love against injustice that he quoted , written by Mihir Shah.The author had thrown light on the prevailing economic inequality , hatred and injustice and probed so many questions on arriving at a tangible solution.

According to a survey by the World Bank , the income level of people who formed the lower 60% economic class of the world dropped down by 10 % , and that of the top 10% raised by 50 % over a period of hundred years or so.Now this shows the growing inequality more evidently than anything else could.

He says hate and injustice have always prevailed and are growing.He suggests , Martin Luther King’s Agape - the pure redemtive love a weapon against injustice.This great activist’s suggestion of the power of love , reminded me those of JK’s ideas on love.

King says “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love “.And there will be justice only when there is no Power for the sake of power.Such power without  love is abusive and love without power is sentimental and aneamic.

There are conflicts, blockades to reach the justice , but conflicts have to be considered as problems seeking solutions and not as war yielding victory of one over the other.The author says , the greatest failure of the 20th Century’s economy was to find out an alternative to Capitalist society that would be implemented efficienlty to curb injustice.True, we have a long way to go as long as we are ready to face hard questions and bind together to produce tangible answers!!