My Unchained Melodies

'I've tagged you', said she, Maddie, my friend in the blog realm. I checked it out with apprehension. My fears were unfounded! I'm supposed to listen to songs while answering harmless questions. Well, now that's the kinda tagging that I like!

All you need is your music player in the shuffle mode and your ability to press the 'next track' button. Each new track is the answer to each question.

Here's my set... the original Question, the song selected and my voice!

If someone says “is this okay?” You say?
Written on the Wind - Wet Wet Wet

...and get beaten up by them or get more of the weird looks I always get.

What would best describe your personality?
Konjum Mynaakkale - Kandukonden Kandukonden

Whoa! Cool... it so does :-)

What do you like in a guy/girl?
Kariye Na - Taal

I have no idea what this means. Any of my hindi-literate friends, tell me what's this?

How do you feel today?
Ballelakka Ballelakka - Sivaji

yooooohooooo I do!

What is your life’s purpose?
Radha Kaise Na Jale - Lagaan

I know what this means and what kinda stupid purpose is to sort out the relationship issues of another girl? I'd have more fun picking my nose.

What is your motto?
Enakkoru Girl friend Venumada - Boys

Oh dear god. No. No and * shakes head vehemently * NO.

What do your friends think of you?
Bye Bye Bye - NSync

Why would they do that? :-(

What do you think of your parents?
Minnale Nee Vandhadhenadi - May Maadham

Huh???

What do you think about very often?
Rangeela Theme - Rangeela

Thinakatha tha thinakka dhin dhin tha. Thinakka tha thakida na na na.
Actually, yes. My 'thinks' are usually as much lucid as this.

What is 2+2?
Kalyana Maalai Kondadum Penne - Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal

Shouldn't the question be 1+1 to fit the answer??

What do you think of your best friend?
We Will Rock You - Queens

Oh ye! If I'm with her, we definitely will!

What do you think of the person you like?
Nilavu Thoongum Neram - Kunguma chimizh

As long as the person I like is supposed to be my boyfriend :-)

What is your life story?
Where's the Party Tonight - KANK

Alright. People who know me: stop that laughing RIGHT NOW!

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Fool Again - Westlife

Once is more than enough I think!

What do you think when you see the person you like?
Eno Kangal - Kalvanin Kadhali

ohhh...* blushes * ... and ohhh... * blushes some more *

What do your parents think of you?
Shape of My Heart - Backstreet Boys

Yeah right.

What will you dance to at your wedding?
Kaadu Potta Kaadu - Karuthamma

At my wedding?? My poor groom will have a heart attack.

What will they play at your funeral?
Thoduven Thoduven - Deepavali

Meaning they'd like to join my eternal rest? Stupid winamp. The song should be swapped with the previous!

What is your hobby/interest?
Ennai Konjam Maatri - Kaaka Kaaka

Awesome pick. Riding an open jeep with Surya along ECR!!! That's definitely my interest!!! Hmmm, winamp's not so stupid after all.

What is your biggest secret?
Wind of Change - The Scorpions

Right, and if you can understand this kinda biggest secret you gotta be a rocket scientist.

What do you think of your friends?
A Whole New World - Aladdin

In a way, yea!

What should you post this as?
Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers

Meaning that should be my post title? Sounds good :-)

Now as per the unbreakable rules set by the sacred tagging community, I shall have to rope in more people! And my victims are
Chitra, Tamizh, Preethika, Chriz, King Vishy, E.C.D and S.G.P

Hope you guys have as much fun doing this! Switch your players to Shuffle mode and get set go!

Past is present

It is the talk of the virtual town. Charles Darwin's notes and books and the all the stuff have been made available online this month! Being a non-scientist, this information of course did not send me into apoplexies of ecstasy. But I was just curious.

Seeing all those handwritten notes right there left a strange feeling inside. Imagine, those very papers had been held by a man about 200 years ago and they had recorded all his thoughts and ideas.

The period of 200 years is not completely conceivable by the mind. At first, you think you know it but you really don't. At the most, we can easily think back to maybe 15-20 years and relate to it. 200 years loses its magnificence and its true distance from us when it cannot even be perceived in the first place! But by a hard effort, we can try to imagine going back 200 years and when we do, the effect is staggering!

He had existed in this completely different world from ours. In addition to their content, those papers must have volumes to tell us about their time. To whom Darwin showed them, how the people looked, what they were wearing, what they were eating, where the papers were stored, what the furniture was like... I can go on.

I got the same strange feeling when I came across some letters written by my grandfather and my great grandfather. They had lived so, so far back in time, but looking at and touching those documents actually have the power to transport you back. Suddenly you get the feeling that the past is right here, in front of you, on nothing more than a piece of paper. And the journey leaves you with an inexplicable feeling of transience!

What's in a name?

Lots, I would say. Here's a fine example.


Grrr. No I did not.

The Unreasonableness of the Girl-Being

A friend of mine and I had stumbled upon a blog site quite recently. She was a little more impressed than I was and was quite vocal about how interesting she found the writings. One day her initial enthusiasm gave way to a slight dismay at finding out that the blogger was married.
'How does it matter' you ask me.
'I'm not sure, but it does', says me.

What's it with girls that assumes that interesting guys they come across must be eligible bachelors, even though the guy has not even a smallest inkling of their existence? Why are we on an eternal search for Mr.Right?

It doesn't matter how far removed he is from us, geographically or otherwise. It is this same feeling that makes us go sad over hearing that Darren Hayes is gay; the sane part of our mind gives us a good bonk on the nose while asking 'how does it even remotely matter where his preferences lie?'. The insane part answers dejectedly, rubbing the nose, 'how can a guy who croons insatiable so sexily be otherwise?'
'Yeah, right, like you even had a chance if he wasn't', shrugs the sane part walking away.

Something must be fundamentally wrong with the genetic makeup.

Tamilnadu - The state of Tamil.

If you are right now living in chennai (good old madras!) and tune into to Radio Mirchi often, you can't miss the song 'Naaka Mukka'! It's a very bouncy number and very similar to other 'kuthu' songs. Initially, you may not fall for it. But, like ARR's numbers, if you keep listening to it over and over, you start to beat your feet to its tune! Apparently, the powers-that-be know this fact and never tire of playing it on air.
But this post is not about that song.
At the beginning of the song, its music director comes on air to extol the song's virtues(!) to us. "Idhu oru normal kuthu song illa" (This is not a normal kuthu song).
Which is what every creator says about his/her creations. "This is not a normal story/movie/pencil/toilet cleaner"
Anyway, to continue, the next line of his was the reason this blog post was called into existence.
"Thooya tamil la sollanum na, idhu oru 'merkathiya kuthu song' " ( in pure tamil, it's a western kuthu song)
Since when were the words 'kuthu' and 'song' part of pure tamil?

If you think this is only an isolated incident and is not sufficient to show the state of the language then listen to this.
I was buying apples from a roadside vendor. An old man stood next to me and asked the vendor for the price of apples.
"five for sixty" said the fella.
The old man did not understand and showed this by saying "eh?" blankly.
The vendor was irritated and said "Tamil la thane sir solren?( aren't I talking in tamil sir?) five apples for sixty rupees!"
It took all my self-control to keep a straight face.

I do know that it is unreasonable(!) of me to expect people use a pure language in their diction. All I ask is that please, for the sake of language, don't blatantly use foreign words under the 'Tamil' banner!

The Watchtower

Well, here's some more of my two cents on inter-personal relations. This is always an interesting topic, and you can never get enough insights into this.
In any relation, it's true that getting much too involved results in heartaches. To enjoy a healthy relation, you have to assume a purely observatory position. In that case you automatically understand them. Once you do that, its easy to accept them as they are. Ask any student of human nature, this is one of the best ways to go through life! And then, it's piece of cake to like and love them.

There are a couple of friends of mine, whom I have found it very, very hard to understand. Whatever I try to do to maintain a good relation with them, I was always discouraged, ignored or hurt. Neither were they willing to be understood. They try their best to change me to suit them, all the while refusing to change themselves.

In such cases, it's better to let them go. Holding on to such people leaves you with a bad taste in the mouth. True, you're losing a friend. But hey, you're better off without those complications in your life! The time you spend in wondering about them and missing them can be turned into a quality time that you can spend with people with whom you have a good understanding. In short, the people who matter!