AG Books

" I don't quite grasp the concept of AG Books. I mean what is it? I understand that Autograph (AG) Books with respect to a college final year student, are regular-but-with-a-fancy-cover-attached-and-you-pay-triple notebooks that students give one another, when they finish college to write something. Ya something. But what do I write? Do you want me to write about you? Really? Isn't that a bit like posting a FB status with just the words 'comment on me' and tagging everyone? Or do you want me to write about myself? Do you wanna know more about me? Ore confusion!

I think in all fairness, the AG Book-er really means to say to the AG Book-ee, "Err this is a book. With lotsa pages in it. Forget the fact I gave it to you and asked you to write. Write whatever that comes to your mind. Anything you want. Anything that you can come up with your knowledge of the universe. Anything. And yeah, one tiny, small detail. Make sure they are all relevant to me, alright? (grin) "

Ok. If you know the person, its kinda ok i guess. I mean, yeah I will write something and you will get it now, what you could not get in the past 4 years of being with me. 

But it gets especially tricky when you don't know the person good enough. I mean, I understand you talk to a friend of mine and you are my classmate and I was standing near him, when you gave him the book. But no, I m not the widowed mother of two children and you really don't have to be polite dear. 

Yes. I know the picture ain't related much to the article. 

But again, 'Politeness' is a reciprocal privilege when it comes to AG books. So the ones who write, always write good, sweet things. Not necessarily true things. Just good and sweet stuff. You will never come across a AG book that reads,

"Dear owner of this book,

May you rot in hell for all eternity :)

Sincerely, 

The guy who you never passed the bit to, keeping it for yourself and so failed his internals :-@"

The true Indian way of doing things would be to look at the previous writers and write your own tweaked version of what they write. Doing which will tell you every AG Book would contain the following :

1. There is atleast one six-page-writing, with xoxos, love yous, mmmuahs thrown in, best friend girl for every girl.
2. Everyone wishes you for "a bright future", but doesn't want you getting a higher package than them in your campus placements. True story.
3. The owner takes in strenuous efforts and writes an introduction in the page put in to separate the content from the bounded cover. Some greeting card stuff.
4. The recession version of AG books is an old diary. Has an antique look and let writers choose their own day of the 365 days!!! woohoo!  
5. Everyone gives their contact details. Their address, phone numbers, DOB and all. And you are forced to think if attaching a resume is a good idea.

Now had Mark Zuckerberg not got his 'spark' from Harvard Connections in the Social Network, I m pretty sure he would have thought of it in his final year while writing AG books. Facts apart, I still write AG books for the love of other people. Yes I found slam books and +2 TNEA counselling application forms similar, but unfortunately I am an altruist. 

All the best!!

Have a bright future!! :-D "

Vishnu Gowthem. 

Worry not, Wilbur's here

I have lots and lots of movies. But still get bored at times.
So, I go and do this.

Me : "Dai unaku ellam soodu soranaye illaye da"

Him : "Hi Friend"

The Man,
The Phenomenon, 
The Icon, 
The Legend.
Wilbur Sargunaraj.
Get a piece of him :
Facebook , Facebook Album,  Personal Site , Youtube , Google.

Oh Obama Va..

I feel like Virendar Sehwag tonight. No, I don't have hair loss. Not Yet.
Its just that I wonder if he is batting sometimes and his thought pattern goes something like this, "I will hit the ball through that [hand gesture] direction, no matter how you bowl." 
Call it his willpower/confidence or his incorrigible adamance or plainly stupidity, it just won't matter. He will still move his padded, stiff feet and square cut a wide ball going way down leg. And probably gets out at times.
The point I m really trying to make is he sets himself to do something in a particular fashion and he does it, no matter what. Thats exactly what I m gonna do tonight. 
"I m going to write about Politics" 
Call it my willpower/blah blah blah or simply look me in the eye and go, "***** da nee", it just won't matter.
I m still gonna write about Politics. :-)


So whats new in Politics..
Tamil Nadu is taken over completely by its grand old man and his ever expanding family of sons and grandsons. (Every one of em always seem successful innit?) Its just a form of dictatorship that quite doesn't have a name yet.
They control the power lines. They control the elections. They control the traffic. They control the show business. They control everything what goes on around you. And as Goundmani puts it, "Ada divorce case kuda parkuranga pa.. Ore busyyy." 
Its just fuckin horrible with the powercuts and all. On the other hand, one of those hotshot grandsons is getting married next week, and probably we ll get two days of local holiday. Plans for a Fifa 11 marathon is on. So yay!


Somewhere else in India, Barack Obama, the US president has arrived to provide the Ayodhya case-disappointed, Commonwealth-conspiracy-disappointed, Endhiran-hype-finished, still-searching-nithyanandha's-sextapes hungry newsmongers something to write and talk about for a few days. And as diwali happened, he did just that in style, by putting up an impromptu dance with the students of some college in Mumbai. 

Appadi Podu Podu

And the amma dancing in the next picture is the First lady, Michelle Obama who seems to have a habit of dancing in shows she attends.[Source : Youtube] And she is great at it too, her husband boasts. 

Waka Waka

Amazingly amongst the India tholai katchigalil mudhan muraiyaga movies, this seemed to have captured the nation's eye too. Heck, it even convinced one of my classmates, that Obama came to India to celebrate Diwali!!!


Apparently the real purpose of his visit was to agree to some sort of billion dollar trade agreement, pay tribute to the victims of the 26/11 attack and talk on various other important matters with India. And like his predecessor Bushu and other US presidents, he too stressed the friendship of the two nations. (If it had been Chennai instead of Delhi, he would have surely called Manmohan Singh "Machi")
However, Obama reportedly had still managed to give one of his famous "change" speeches at the parliament,  addressing the state of Islams and the UNSC for India, which is frankly telling the Indian government how to do their job. 
Well no one cares, and certainly not me. 
Like lots of people who retweeted,

"Obama is President of America. Funny to see Indians asking him to do a lot for us. Why should he fight the Indian war?"

Anyways Obama leaves country tomorrow. And my mom dearly wishes she could give him some of her diwali murukku and sweets so he could give it to my brother in the US. But he seems to go further east to Indonesia, so all plans dropped.

LOL at the Iyer's Shoes.

The above picture was taken earlier in the US. Seemed to be a good choice for the occasion, so I put it up. 
Well..
Thats all from the news now. Stay tuned for more updates.

Trick or treat?

Although the Anti-Vijay enthusiast in me jump up and down excitedly like Dobby the elf and complain it should be Sura this year, (compared to last year Halloween's S.J.Suryah), I just found this too terrifying.

Muhahaha!

Apparently as the above picture suggests, "Superhumans do exist!!" 

pssst : this is not a pity post to increase count for the year, although the inclusion of the page hit counter and the archive numbers suggest otherwise. :D

"I just wanted a decent post for diwali" 

Madhuri Dixit. 
I have scared you.
Happy Halloween guys. :-)


P.S.  this might have been an inside joke. 

The Graduate - Where It All Started

If you are the type of person who would watch Star Movies or HBO movie-for-the-upcoming-month advertisements,
Or the kind of guy who would sneak a peek into the movie collection that one of your class girls has in her laptop when you are asked to use it for organizing an onstage event with the whole department watching on,

Or the sorry, i mean 'rare' breed of men who would download a specified set of movies and burn them onto a disk (at times with a pathetic readme attached) for your girl/woman/her friends to watch, 

then you must have probably come across a lot of "Romantic-Comedy" movies. (And chick flicks* too)


The Graduate is one such movie. Except that, it was the only such movie at that time.

Based on a novel of the same name, the plot goes something like this. 
Open scene. Benjamin Braddock, a recent university graduate (must be an under graduate) is dissatisfied with his family's way of socializing (which is a rich party at home with the friends) and has no clue what he is going to do next with his life. He gets seduced by an elder woman - Mrs.Robinson and Mr.Robinson happens to be his dad's friend. He later meets Elaine Robinson, their daughter. And the rest is history. 


Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock and Anne Bancroft as Mrs.Robinson put in two brilliant performances. Hoffman is perfect as being an innocent and confused young man. More importantly he has that subtlety in his acting, which forces the viewers to think it can happen to anyone. In other words, the guy in the picture is the perfect 'common man.' Mrs.Robinson is really seducing. dot.


The movie also has a brilliant soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkel. 'Sounds of Silence', 'Scarborough fair' and 'Mrs.Robinson' are amazing pieces. It also has really good camera angles and shots for its time, I m told.


Now there must atleast be a thousand odd movies with plots revolving around affairs. But the Graduate is overtly significant in the fact that it was the one that led to those thousand odd movies. Releasing in 1967, it has largely influenced the art of film-making. Up-to a time when movies were all about cowboys and outlaws(Eastwood) or murders and thrillers based upon novels (Hitchcock), the avant-garde Graduate is said to have mirrored the happenings of the society in a bold and satirical way. Thats right. Hugh Grant wouldn't have been in movies otherwise now.


Now I compared this with the Tamil-movie industry in my mind. Tamil movie heroes rarely have affairs. 
We have a trend of Dada movies with aruvaals and sumo cars (Even a worser trend of movies with different areas in Madurai as film titles) We don't enjoy them. Thinking pragmatically, not even a bit. (unless Vijayakanth or TR does it, in which case its humor) But the stream of movies getting released sadly seem to be non-ending. 
Violence is okay for a hero. But not sex. (Oooh that would be perverted) 
Grow up people.
Why does every Tamil movie hero have to be a good guy? 
Yes he shoots. He kills. He steals. But he is a good guy. Why?
There were a few movies that tried. But until someone does a Graduate (where the hero has an affair with an elder woman) "successfully" here, things are going to remain still. 
And at that time S.J.Suryah will have a railway station named after him.


* Chick flicks are different from romantic comedies. Although the internet might not agree, in my opinion Romantic comedies that are slightly gay are chick flicks.

A Serious Post

Foreword :
Ok, this is a serious post. Seriously guys. A very very very serious post. And it is as written as serious as possible by a serious person. Or thinking again, its rather a post on a serious topic. Either ways, its serious. So read it on a serious note. 


Now when you were young, you probably had English Paper II. And you had also probably written a lot of general essays in that subject. Most often the topic for these essays would have been one of the following :


1.Poverty/Overpopulation/Unemployment/Other problems the government didn't give a damn about.
2.Pollution. Lots of Pollution.
3.If you were the Prime Minister/President/CM/Some one of this country.
4.The book you recently read/ The place you recently visited/ The dash you recently dash,etc..
5.Your Ambition/desire in life/Blah blah blah.


Now the kids who thought too much on 1 and 3 became director Shankar, Capt. Vijayakanth, Arjun, fans of director Shankar, Capt. Vijayakanth, Arjun etc..
Kids who did 4 went on to read the Harry Potter series.
Kids who chose 5 forgot what they wrote.
And the rest of them did 2.
Anyways, having grown up(A few of us think I do), I m gonna do the grown up thing and give fundas on all the topics.


Unemployment :
Unemployment is defined as the state of being jobless. 
It was a state of embarrassment/pity/lucklessness before. Now it is THE coolest thing now and you have a very good chance of landing a super figure like Tamanna or Trisha if you are jobless according to the Indian Cinema.
And I bet 100 bucks no one told you too that Engineers are the most unemployed/wrongly employed people all over the world, when you were young. Ha ha now.


Poverty/ Overpopulation :
There is a reason why I combined these specific topics. There were links among others too. But these are what you call "contrapositive" in mathematics. If India is a poor nation, it is also Overpopulated nation. If it is not Overpopulated, it means India is not poor.


Proof : A short visit to the super market tells you that a 10-piece pack of Super Strength Intensity (written Verbatim) type.. errrr "Safety" things... cost 60 bucks. Which means the average Indian couldn't afford roughly 6(or 12) bucks a night, to prevent the personification of irritating wailing from materialising. India IS a poor nation. I rest my case.


PS. As to how or why I knew such details, I want you to know that unlike other people,
I care about my country. Chak De India!


Pollution :
Pollution. Easily the most often written essay of everyone's childhood. All of us wrote it. We don't know why we wrote it. We just did it. Just like the statutory warning on a pack of cigarettes, It didn't matter then, Doesn't matter now, Never will. 
Kudos to people who did it again in your Environment Engineering paper.


Prime Minister/ President :
I wrote this essay and meant it when I was young. Somehow over the years, politics became one of the most hated things to me. I just hate em. hate em. yuck yuck yuck. Hate em. (No prizes on guessing as to how I got into college. shhhh!) Hate em!


The book I recently read :
Hitler's Mein Kampfffff... yawwwwwwwwwwnnnn.. Must read guys..


The dash you recently dash :
Use your imagination. In the comments section. (No dirty humor please. Families watch this blog. :) )


Ambition in life :

When I went to junior school,
I said, "I wanna be a doctor".
But again, I was a real big fool,
And I became an Engineer with a proctor.


So I was very sad, even though Engineering wasn't that bad,
Cos I don't wanna be glad, simply living off my dad.
I wanted a job, that would make me happy bob,
Not some slob, who no one would care to rob!


So, I asked myself a few questions,
Questions as to what I should do with my life,
My life, that had seen so many suggestions,
Suggestions that now said, "All you need is a beautiful wife". :)


So like everyone else, I noted duly,
And said, I wanna be with Angelina Jolie,
Again I ended up being sad,
Having lost this time to stupid Brad. :|

Have a serious day. 

The English Curry..

A Preview of the British Dailies tomorrow...

CHEATED! And then BEATEN! 

...

We got cheated. And then we got beaten. 
An array of English superstars end probably their last world cup, to a blitzkrieg German attack. Thoroughly outplayed for the first 30 minutes by the Germans, going down 0-2, with Podolski and Klose scoring, the English showed courage to pull a goal back, through makeshift comedy defender Matthew Upson to make it 1-2. And immediately a minute later, Chelsea's heart and soul, Frank James Lampard chipped the ball over the German goalkeeper, from the edge of the area. Clearly, the ball hit the crossbar and bounced off more than a foot inside the goal-line, but the complacent referee and the linesmen, against millions of English fans (minus Manchester United fans) refused to believe their eyes, as to whether Lampard could do that! 
...
" We believed Frank Lampard could not do that and we trusted our instincts. Do you think the replays could be morphed? ", commented Referee Jorge Labbadia when asked about the controversy. Now, could they be morphed?
...
When suggested, " That.. Goal.. Referee.. Not Allow..", cried Lampard, having found the net or rather the line this time, after 34 shots and 2 world cups. 
...
From there, England failed to realise it takes only 10 seconds to score a goal through a counter attack. And eventually, ended up getting defeated 4-1, after Thomas Mueller scored a brace....


ENGLAND IN ROO-INS 
...
England's Talisman, Wayne Mark Rooney seemed off color today (as well), like he had been the last few matches. He failed to provide the much needed firepower for The Three Lions. He kept losing the ball, didn't have a single proper shot or chance at goal (very unlikely), and didn't set up anyone for a goal either. 
...
When asked for his poor display at the world cup, Rooney told our reporter, " We acted like a buncha clowns out there. Clearly, Milner is an idiot. He provided no proper cross nor pass. And Gerrard on the other wing, doesn't want a Manchester United player to score! "
...
" Frank's shot was in. Did I see it? Yes. Did I believe it? No. "
...
" Yes. My performance was dismissive too! Need a Punch? :-@ ". Our reporter moved out before things got out of hand and the locker room burst to flames seconds after...


Another Day, Another World, ENGLAND WIN THE WORLDCUP 
...
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2867977/England-are-champs-of-sex-scandal-World-Cup.html


Further HUMILIATION
...
"Gimme English citizenship and I ll win the world cup for ya guys in 2014", says Brazilian born Liverpool Mudfielder, Lucas Leiva...


CATALYST Mixup
...
When asked why England couldn't go through, the Italian had this to say, "We obviously had a goal disallowed. And I should have started with Emile Heskey. He is so the perfect catalyst for Wayne. Defoe was prosaic. And why didn't I hear of Dawson before?"
...
Enough with the catalyst stuff Fabio. Wake up. Heskey is a reserve player for his club, Aston Villa?!? 
Darren Bent scored 24 goals last season. Heskey has never scored more than 20 goals even with 2 years combined. And he is the catalyst?...


The INDIAN View
...
Clearly, the Rooneys, Gerrards, Terrys were outplayed by the Oezils, Muellers and Podolskis today. But what that disallowed goal has done is, it has provided the much-needed alibi for the British. And you really can't say things would have been the same too, had that goal been allowed. 
Yes, Germany scored two after that, but they merely extended a lead under no pressure whatsoever. 2-2 at Half time could have been a whole different ball game. And we know what Rooney could do, (especially Lamps) if everyone around him starts scoring. 
So, did the British lose because of that goal? Maybe. Maybe not. 
Thus the simple beauty of arguments, it could overshadow even the weak, battered defence lines of the English... :D

And we thought Ramarajans And Rajkirans were funny!

If you have already heard about the concepts of 'Divide & Conquer', good. Read about it again. Else it goes something like this. Suppose, you are going to have dinner. You have a huge, full grilled chicken in front of you. Now, not that you cant eat it one sitting, but you might end up having a stomach ache. Thus, for better satisfaction you divide it in half, (Now Sai, i m not gonna suggest share it with your friend :P) you have one half now and the other late night (preferably while watching a champions league match). This technique of dividing the chicken for the present and the delicious future for betterment in efficiency of consumption is Divide & Conquer. Now that you know D&C, this has nothing to do with the post. Thought I would let you know I m dividing and conquering right now. Yummmm!


Ok. Now, two things happened in the recent past tat makes me write this. 
One, I saw someone dress stupider than Ramarajan. 
And two, Rajkiran has an untold secret!


Ramarajan and the horizontal half-pants :

<-- this is Ramarajan, known in Tamil nadu for his undaunted courage to wear pink shirts, pink lungis, pink trousers and his kind nature, that marks the willingness to be laughed at uproariously by the entire state, at the slightest behest. No. I m not even gonna start on his acting. His action sequences makes you go OMG! and his romance sequences appeals for the same emotion too. Ironically, he has the record for the longest running tamil movie. Karakattakaran. Now you know why Vijay names his movies ending with "karan". He is said to have got a bit of MGR in him. So he tried placing his foot in politics; became something for a while; then lost his footing; wife divorced him; fell heroically. period. 

Now compare Ramu with this dude --> whom I saw in television while changing channels. Apparently, he is a wrestler and like all wrestlers he over acts. His name is Zack something. And as I watched from my ever-slipping sofa cushions, he did something no other man has ever dared before and I went holy mother of god!
He wears long pants in one leg and briefs in the other leg!!!
(In Tamil - Oru kaal la pant Oru kaal la jatti! ) Holy Mother of God!
The altruist in me sprung to action and believed this social bigotry against Ramarajan should come to an immediate end.
After all, it took the wife 20 years to divorce him. With all due respect, HE IS THE MAN.


Rajkiran and the brand value :


Moving onto our second case study, the other titan of tamil cinema, Rajkiran. 
Now, I was at a Jockey factory sales recently and surrounded by hundreds/thousands of underwear, I might have perhaps unearthed one of the greatest secrets ever. 
After cruising through various sections, I settled at the cotton nightwear section. Little did I know that, thats where the divine intervention was to take place.
~~ 
As the fabric bore a close semblance,
Epiphany, it was that struck me, in silence,
Years of laughing and rianting,
It wasn't after all a cheap outing.
A laugh riot, he had been,
Now, the quiet truth i have seen.


O Society, My Society,
All along, it was the pot calling the kettle black,
Mistaken nature of things! what a pity,
For now, Patta patti is the new black!
A laugh riot, he had been,
Now, the quiet truth i have seen.
~~
If sense hath not thy mind made, see the following two pictures. 
One is the picture of a model, wearing a costly but comfy jockey nightwear, more of a boxer. And the other is Rajkiran wearing the near exact same boxer, but with a lungi! 

And we thought Ramarajans And Rajkirans were funny!!