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Showing posts from April, 2009

Revisiting Ayn Rand - Redefining Life

"You only see, what your eyes want to see." Madonna (From her album "Frozen") "A thing can affect you only when you are already a part of it." Shankar Narayan Iyer , my classmate at CA Final class "Every drunkard has an excuse." Kamal , my college mate. "It is important to be able to forgive oneself" Ketan Panchal , a blogger, whose beats I follow and enjoy --++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++--++-- This World Sucks This post is not an ode to these people, but my ramblings on this whole world, which sucks big time! Or is it? Of late, I am having this sense, that people to whom I am recommending the works of Ayn Rand, are becoming far too serious, and forgetting that they had once this ability to appreciate and smile, and be happy. Is she making them, her readers, a bit more fussy about the world we live in? Accepted there are a billion things about this world, that can be complained about. But, th

Thavamai Thavamirundhu

There have been movies based on relationships between the father and the son. Some movies contain only a small segment highlighting this bond. Some have a full fledged story woven around this. Though there have been movies on the subject in different languages, among the ones I have watched, this movie by Cheran, "Thavamai Thavamirundhu", ranks as the best ode to the father-son relationship. Though Gautam Menon's "Vaaranam Aayiram" also touches upon this issue, in a visually appealing fashion, shot stylishly in picturesque locations, and is a treat to the eyes, the poignant portrayal of such relationships is certainly not his strength. Though Suriya had done a fantastic job, he pales in comparison to and comes a distant second to Raj Kiran, as the father. Right from the first frame till the end, this movie strikes all the right chords in your heart. Though some say it was a long movie (almost 200 minutes), I am not sure which part of the movie could have been sa

Smoked Out

Akhil was in his second year of graduate course, when his age demanded him to be a post graduate. Not that he was bad in studies, he was indifferent to it. Life was all about friends, smokes and drinks at Dolphin.  His favourite pastime was smoking. He had the unparalleled ability of identifying a smoke brand from the smell of it. Having tasted and smoked almost everything desi, he scouted for videsi imports. When that proved costly, he went about finding them out in Burma Bazaar. Nothing could stop him from smoking. Neither his fathers scolding, his mothers emotinoal plea, his teachers orders. Nothing. He was a chain smoker.  In the drinking department, he was no fish. Occassional, for it never interested him as much as smoking did. He did all his experiments with smoking. He would take out the tobacco leaves from different brands, and then mix them in some ratio, and then prepare a blend of his own to smoke them out. When not smoking, he preferred to be at the Grooms Desk in the clas

Dawn of a New Profession

In one of the news channels recently, a lady was indignantly responding to a question on the Mangalore Pub Attack. Nothing strange about the fact that she was indignant. She was rightful on that. Any sane person would be indignant on those atrocities (let there be a separate post on that) What caught my attention was the way that lady was introduced. She was identified as a Socialite from  Delhi . She was a  what ? Socialite. I first heard the term three-four years back when the entire Paris Hilton scandal broke out, and made the headlines (where else, in Headlines Today). She was identified as Hotel Heiress and a Socialite. I knew Red Light, Blue Light, Parasite, but never a Socialite. I have also heard of Socialist, Communist, Chauvinist, Feminist etc., but had never heard of a Socialite. This word was new to me. I never knew that there was a profession called Socialite. My first guess was that they are social workers / activist, whose latest iteration being termed as Socialite, Like

Woman of Substance

AYN RAND Among the greatest thinkers to have lived on this earth.  Among the scores of thinkers and writers who whip up the public sentiment, dole out loads of emotional blackmail, glorify tolerant servitude to others whims and force our actions to be guided by others' thoughts, Rand had the courage speak of the one wonderful philosophy - Rational Objectivism - Our life to be guided by the following tenets - Purpose of my life is my own happiness. My activity and efforts should be for productive accomplishment. A Reasoning mind to be my only ally in the entire process. Hard to accept, tough to follow, her ideas were truly ground breaking as she literally shook the advocates of Socialism, who branded her as evil. When almost the whole of this world considers "Me" concept as vulgar, her writings were of the highest order in the contrary. She glorified the importance of "self" like never before. Never ever did the word "I" look so very beautiful. Never ev