The Pause

Morning Reflections

2006-10-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

Like Snow...

Manadhodu Mazhaikaalam - not just another melodrama

2006-09-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

We have another Tam director who can communicate almost as good as Cheran (Autograph and Thavamai Thavamirundhu). I like happy endings. But I cant say what genre this movie belongs to.. its a more realistic tone.

Things I liked the best about this movie:
1. Its not the usual tam movie, where a boy will turn out to be a 'villian' when he starts suspecting his fiancee hanging out with her boy friends.
2. Your wife's best friend(who is a boy) can turn out to be a good friend of yours too, and perhaps your only friend for life.
3. Yendha appaavum avan paiyanai nambi porakkaradhu illai. Paiyan thaan appaava nambi porakkaraan. (I liked that line.. )

This movie is definitely worth watching!

Sunrise

2006-09-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

This one is incomplete.. I decided to keep track of all its displayable versions ;)

Shades and Snow

2006-09-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

I should have worked bettter on this one! It was close to a good work anyway!

Do you see the distant rains?

2006-09-22T21:51:00.001-07:00

Knowledge vs experience -from the Gita

2006-09-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

I was watching random episodes from our very own Mahabharatha series...

In one scene (one of the last episodes), Krishna wants Bheeshma(lying on a bed of arrows) to instruct Yudhishtira about what makes a good king.
Bheeshma wants Krishna to do the task instead, as he is the all-knowing. Krishna says, "I have all the knowledge, but not the experience".

Think about Krishna's answer. The more you think about it, the more things hit your mind.. I find all answers to sins and adharma in that one line.

"Evil" in itself is static. Knowing the tricks of robbery, tantra, and so on is knowledge -which is something every one should possess. Ignorance is no longer a bliss -Ignorance is crime. Ignorance is denial of duty. A stable mind is one that knows all the evils, and that is the mind that also knows how to stay away from evil.
On the contrary, an ignorant mind is the one most susceptible to crime and scandals.

Experience is what a mind gains by training itself. An ignorant mind gains knowledge through (mostly) bitter experiences.

The discussion on this topic is endless. I can never express the abstractness of this topic in words! My ignorance fails me yet again!! And again... and again!!!

Yuga - Kollywood's answer to the matrix

2006-09-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

I am not going to give you the final plot of this thriller, so you can continue reading this post. This movie is more than a sci-fi... If movies like Anniyan and Paalayathamman showed you the power of the the soul or the Gods, Yugaa goes a step further.. Its about the power of the soul, the Gods and also science.
Its also tells us intelligent facts like..
1.To be a research assistant with a world-renowned scientist (nasser) all you need is to prove your intelligence by saying that the solar system has nine planets, jupiter has 8 moons and saturn has a ring.
2.Secret cult meetings can be organized in one of the bedrooms in your own house and you can be sure no one in your house will know what you are doing.
3.Any intelligent scientist knows no better than to make backup copies of important research work (the thesis on AGORARs by the old lady)
4.Things as treasured as stones from moon (or was it mars)... will be exhibited in an open-exhibition.. and will be protected with utmost care such as closing it with a beaker upside down! (tam movies direction continues to rock!!)
5.No kollywood movie willl be made without a heroine, two trees and a waterfall!

Apart from such noteworthy flaws, the movie did have its pluses.. er.. something to justify what this movie is made for.

I liked the idea that the soul can be trained. The soul is all powerful. What you think, makes what you are. Rather, you end up as what you always think.. -I'm talking about the AGORAR concept.

The ending was good... (without going into giving out the plot).... I agree that there should be some factor that people will have to fear about. If all was said and done, there will be no fear. Sometimes, superstitious beliefs that have no answer will be the only hope to bring about human discipline...

Apart from the fact that director made a 5 year old give background voice for Richards (the enterprising young research assistant and our hero), the movie has nothing to stop it from hitting the box office!

Yuga - waiting for the sequel!

Coming up...

2006-09-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

Check back in a week for Shades of Snow and After the rain-the place to pause

Bagasuran

2006-08-31T19:45:00.000-07:00

Pitcher Perfect

2006-08-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

Autumn Effect

2006-08-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

10 reasons why you should forget your ex-boy friend

2006-08-31T14:11:00.000-07:00

10. He is not here this moment when you want to show him some new jewellery you just bought at a sale. (If he doesnt know about it in the next 10 minutes, he doesnt deserve you).

9. He is no longer sending you any gifts, and even if he did... you had your new boy friend giving you better and bigger gifts.

8. Things you once loved, now make you cry because it brings back old memories. If he makes you cry for what you like, he doesnt deserve your sympathy.

7. He did not call you to make up when you told him that all he had was the next 10 minutes to call you up and apologise for losing his temper on you.

6. You just realised that he was never encouraging when you wanted to cut short a phone conversation with him so that you could go out with your friends for an ice cream.

5. He now talks of returning back all your gifts because it no longer 'belongs' to him. (He wants you to throw away all his gifts when you said you will return his gifts back to him too).

4. He does not seem to care when you ignore him a little hoping he would realize your absence.

3. Infact, he isn't thinking of you at this moment when every line here is reminding you of him.

2. You just decided that a window of opportunities just opened up for you and you have decided that its far more interesting to hang out with friends than spend hours waiting for him to respond to your phone calls.

1. You just found this new guy who is exactly your ex-boy friend MINUS all qualities you hated about him.

Nandri ketta magangal vida naaigal meladaa

2006-08-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

I remember when my dad used to teasingly say these words to us when we used to be kids. All me and my brother will do was to shout and scream and complain...

In my office, we try to discuss some state of the art technologies, which eventually turned boring. So keep up the pace, we picked up politics. Nah! not something I liked to talk about -dropped! And finally, we come up with an apt topic. "Dogs are far superior than humans" -I couldnt agree more. He told me humans are made of 'humans'... they think and act like humans, and so canot do any better than what they do now. Given a second chance to re-live the same life, he is bound to adopt the same choices he made,,, because he is made of the same entities that keep motivating him to take the same decisions.

I remember the day my dog's soul departed its four years' shelter... It was 5:00am.

Till ten hours prior to that moment I discovered he wasnt moving anymore, I was making frequent checks on him. I knew he was in so much pain.. he was whining at such a low volume. Each time I went close to him, he stopped his whining!

Amazing, I thought.,.. think of humans who would want every one around him to know what pain they are going through. They would want all their close ones to be with them at the moment they are going to breathe their last... they want to cling to their close ones, and have one last glimpse.... look what attachments made to him...

Take my dog.. who did not want to show us what pain he was going through. He died in one dark corner of my garden... he was probably thinking that we would never discover he was dead(!?) But its not that I am talking about -its his whole thought process that pressed him not to trouble someone he should really be "loyal" to.

If a dog could do that to his master, and be so thoughtful... think of us humans. Think how much loyalty we should be showing to the others, especially to the spouses. Next time, your wife whom you married through the arranged-marriage-parents-make-the-right-match custom, disrespects you, or treats you bad, you know you could have rather settled for a b-itch!

Through the window, up above sea-level

2006-08-31T13:43:00.000-07:00

(Old post: Oct 2005)
I loved aisle seats on board air crafts for no reason that I can think of. All I could think of was to curse the airlines that put me on the window seat on my trip to Dallas. I took off from work at 3:00PM, but the flight was delayed by six hours due to traffic jam at the hangar, and thats a story in itself though. You know all the weird thoughts that get into your minds when the flight is about to take of dont you? The ones similar to what the hero sees in FInal Destination on board the flight? :D
The flight took off, and for the first time I discovered why window seats are usually in much demand. Looking out through the window, down to the earth.. Lo! I wondered for a moment if the flight was going upside down... I saw gazillion shining stars down below blocking the view of earth itself! Rub my eyes. Look again. I almost witness the meteor shower.. with several of those shining little stars below moving as though in a pre-defined path. What a sight that was! American Airlines, you are the best! For giving me the left out window seats, much against what I had asked for!!
Did I hear any of you say that God never stops by earth to hear our problems? Why would He? He is so awe-struck up above us, and gazing at New York's grandeur all night! By the way, say your prayers during the day.
Hasn't God's creation almost reproduced God's own creation? Oops, to some of you out there -I'm not getting into this topic at this hour of the night!

Of Dan Brown and the rest of the world

2006-08-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

(An old post: Oct 2005)
Looking down upon the hollow object in his hands, he started experimenting its orb-like features and started estimating its capacity in cubic-centimeters. Why he holding that orb now, of all he could find, he knew not, but one thing was sure. This was his big day. If not today, he would have to wait for the opportune moment until months.
He looked at the huge gate where he was instructed to be at the right moment. He stared at them from a distance, as if studying the engravings. Uncountable thoughts ran through his mind. He knew there was nothing to get distracted. What he had to do this day had been instructed to him well enough.
To get past the line, and sneak into the front row, would be tough and could cost him untold mishaps and he would be the headlines of tomorrow's news papers. Neither he nor his teacher liked to become a public figure; And they wanted to stay out of all controversies, today, of all days. His cell phone was hidden between a piece of black cloth that was tied to his waist -and it did its duty well. It concealed it from public view well enough, no one would suspect he had been contacted about what was going on within the great walls that he was facing at the moment. The moment would come, he knew, and the caller would instruct him to take the right position and he knew he would be served well this day. It was the day he had been waiting for ever since the caller had mailed him the cell phone.
And ring it did. He knew the wait was over. He moved his hands to the phone to pick the call and heard the exact words he knew he was waiting for since hours. The rain seemed to work out in his favor. And there he made his way through the thin crowd and positioned himself well enough. He knew he would be the first one to meet the one getting out when the huge door in front of them all threw open. And it did so at the right time. Ready that he was, in the right place at the right time -he grabbed the orb and held it out pointing it at the ones getting out through the opened doors- and then the only sounds he could hear was like that of copper pieces storming through an enclosed cylinder, hitting against the walls as it made its way to its destination. His eyes gleamed, he knew he was doing his job well. Soon he was done. It was time to call the leader. He did. And told his leader, in a whisper though, "today was the day! the collection is 246 Rs 75 paisa". He grinned. And they both grinned at the end of a rather profitable day outside the Golden walled temple.

Recreating my blog space

2006-08-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

I was shocked I forgot the password to my blog account http://padma-pen.blogspot.com
So I'm forced to create this new account.
I chose the black background because.... thats the only layout out there that looks decent (I am too lazy for a custom layout). Black I think, will provide a good background for the masterpieces I wish to paint pretty soon..