unspoken reflections of my heart
eskay
I’m a connoisseur of art, a concoction of assorted interests, with a creative mind and an observant eye. An explorer by choice, I am a simple guy with rich tastes. I’m ever busy, read a lot, always at my witty best, and adore intelligence. Though I look reticent by chance, I talk a dozen to ten, if we share that bond. If you respect friendship, I will like thee. If you love music, you will love me.
Homepage: http://blog.karthiksankar.com
Yahoo Messenger: eskay_karthik
Jabber/GTalk: eskay.karthik
Posts by eskay
Dr. Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan – the end of an era
Sep 10th
Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan
There is a void left behind in the music world. A void which no one can fill in the future. The demise of violin maestro Dr. Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan is a great loss to the whole world. He was a man who entertained all class of audiences. He was a person who had in store something for every person among the audience. He described himself as a departmental store, which is fully true.
I am a student of the great legend. I had been learning violin under his tutelage for the past 8 years. He brought out the talent in me. He transformed me into a violinist. He passed on his knowledge and technique to every student of his.
I still feel like packing my violin and going to his violin class. The classes will be very informal, without any teacher-student divide. He rarely used his violin to teach us. He would sing the lines and we were expected to follow, bringing out the exact tune on the violin. This helped us in developing our accompanying skills too. When most music schools claim that to be proficient enough in music to perform concerts, it would take at least ten years, my guru trained us to perform concerts in less than two years. He himself started accompanying great artistes almost one year after he started learning violin from his father.
He was never a serious-looking and reserved person. He had a great sense of humour and his own style of keeping everyone around happy and laughing. He was a very good orator too. His alliterations and word plays were enjoyable. His “one minute stories” require special mention. He often would tell us short stories during class which used to be humorous and they carried a strong message. we used to enjoy the time we spent with him. We used to be like a family.
His confidence in his students was much more than our own and that brought out the best in us. He never used to tell us what songs we must play for the concerts. So we have never been able to practice. Every decision would be on stage. He was always confident that we would perform well at all times. That confidence of his, together with his blessings, helped us perform well during concerts.
He had a very good memory. He used to remember dates as if he were a history encyclopedia. He also remembered almost everyone whom he met in his life. He was a very humble person, never had any pride. He respected everyone and was very devoted to music and God.
I have still not come to terms with his loss. Every human is mortal. But his music is immortal. His violin would continue to play brilliant music and speak directly to our hearts. There can never be a violinist like him. He would continue to remain in all our hearts in the form of music. He would bless us all. May his soul rest in peace.
if only i knew a bit of english
Sep 7th
For the first time I was travelling long distance, out of Tamil Nadu. It was a long journey by train to New Delhi, to attend a training programme. And I don’t know Hindi. I had been of the opinion that since English is an universal language, I can manage without Hindi. But I was wrong.
I found it very difficult to order food. The caterer did not know English. I managed to ask him if he knew Tamil. Fortunately, he understood my question and answered in the negative. All that I had to say was that I did not want dinner. I avoided English because he did not know the universal language. I tried my luck with Hindi but in vain. Finally my co-passenger helped me out and did the translation.
The next time he came for taking orders, I knew it was going to be a tough time, if i do not ask for help. Somehow I managed to convey the message. At the end, the caterer murmured something in Hindi and left. I knew he was abusing me. My neighbour translated it for me … “if only this boy knew a bit of English…”
The icing on the cake is this fact: Another co-passenger was a Japanese girl. I tried to build a conversation with her. When asked why she was in India, she said that she was here to learn Hindi and was attending classes at Benaras. Now here is something I should be ashamed of….
the greatest help
Aug 19th
The other day, I was sitting in the computer lab during a practicals session..The professor was teaching us a software, and we were exploring the software on our terminals. A doubt crept up my mind and I tried to think of a solution. But i had to give up after some time. I raised my hand for assistance.
The professor briskly walked from the other end of the lab to the place where I was sitting. He pulled up an unoccupied chair lying nearby and sat next to me. I had a feeling that he knew everything about the software. With great hopes that my doubts will be cleared, I started explaining him my problem. He listened intently. After I finished, I asked him what should be done.
He came closer to the computer, leaned forward, took possession of the mouse. The pointer went straight to the HELP menu on top. He clicked it and said that all doubts will have answers here. He further added that F1 might be an easier option. Saying this, he walked away, leaving me blank. Only then did I realize that F1 can be a better guide than the professor…
the hare and the tortoise – corporate version
Aug 18th
Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he’d sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he’d lost the race. The moral- “Slow and steady wins the race”. This is the version of the story that we’ve all grown up with.
THE STORY DOESN’T END HERE,
There are few more interesting things…..it continues as follows…… The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he’d lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there’s no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed. This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles. The moral – “Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. It’s good to be slow and steady; but it’s better to be fast and reliable.”
THE STORY DOESN’T END HERE
The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there’s no way it can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. It thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river. The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race. The moral – “First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.”
THE STORY STILL HASN’T ENDED.
The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time. They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they’d felt earlier. The moral – “It’s good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you’re able to work in a team and harness each others core competencies, you’ll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you’ll do poorly and someone else does well. Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership. Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could.” In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both. The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.
To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise has much to say: Chief among them are that fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady; work to your competencies; pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers; never give up when faced with failure, and finally, compete against the situation – not against a rival.
anger management
Aug 8th
Have you ever noticed how water flows ? What would happen if there is a huge stone blocking its path ? Never would it try to go through the rock. It rather would flow gently along its sides, doing no harm to the rock. This character of water must teach us something.
Bombard against anything, but not against a stone wall. It is you who would get hurt, and not the wall. Patience is a virtue. Controlling ones emotions is another. Giving vent to anger then and there will do no good. It will harm you and the people around you.
There are people in this society who would love to help you. There are people out there who might cause harm, intentionally or otherwise. There is no use in being infuriated by the actions of such people. Maybe they had a genuine reason for their actions. Or it is possible that their actions were unavoidable. Or they might not be fortunate enough to love and be loved.
There is corruption everywhere. Many minds are corrupted. Many hands are corrupted. Every time we find something wrong happening, we get furious. Our conscience forces us to attack, to fight. But sometimes, we must think whether it is worth attacking, worth showing force. The world is never going to change if it is anger that is rooted in the minds of the reformers.
The best way to attack is to do good, to spread love. To make people realize their mistakes by themselves, To make people feel ashamed by their own acts. We must help them to change their path. This is the Gandhian way of life. No one would get hurt, No one would feel bad. Everything would end on a happy note.
Angry words and angry deeds would bring us more enemies than friends. It would make us distance away from the good things in this world. It would snatch happiness away from us. It is never wrong to get angry. But one should know to control anger. Don’t let anger storm out of you every time. Don’t let it do any harm.
When there is something good that you have lost, don’t get angry. Be patient. There is something better coming towards you. Keep smiling. Spread happiness. Be like water, flow along the sides of the rock, In due course of time, the rock would get eroded by the flow of water and the path would be clear.
chaos in dasavathaaram
Jun 20th
Maybe this is the first time a movie is based on a famous theory. And since I anticipated this even before watching the movie, it was even more interesting as each scene convinced me that the functioning of the whole world is based on chaos theory. Clearly, the movie Dasavathaaram has made people turn pages in various books and study chaos. I did that too.
a timepass example:
Think of this.
Someone sometime in the distance past planted a sapling. The sapling grows and becomes a huge tree after many years. There is a dry twig in the tree. It falls down. A few miles apart, there is a bird. It wants to build a nest. The bird picks up the twig and takes it to a suitable place and builds a nest. The bird then lays eggs. There is a naughty boy who tries to get those eggs. He throws a stone. The stone misses and hits a small water pipe in a nearby house. The house owner sees the water leak and spends some time mending it. As a result, he starts late to office. He misses the last bus which he generally takes. And then he comes to know that the bus he missed met with an accident……. I’ll stop here.
my attempt on explaining chaos:
What exactly is chaos?
The definition goes thus: “Chaos theory attempts to explain the fact that complex and unpredictable results can and will occur in systems that are sensitive to their initial conditions”
This definition can be decrypted by telling that every event occurring around us has got some significance. What significance? No one would know until the event becomes noticeable and significant by itself. Every single event that happens in this world has a significance.
Suppose a series of events result in a final state. If even one of the events does not happen, there MIGHT have been a completely different final state. The word, “might” is important because we just cannot predict what would happen. Consider the example above. Even if one of the events had not occurred, it would have cost that person his life.
Nature is the best example for chaos theory. Everything that happens in nature might be seemingly unrelated, but they do have some relation. And nature is unpredictable. How many would have believed that the spray bottles ( deodorants, etc. ) that were being manufactured a few years before would actually contribute to the hole in ozone layer ???
The most important point in chaos theory is that the events occurring are NOT random. They just dont happen without any cause or reason. Everything follows a pattern. It is just that no one can know what the pattern is. You cannot predict the future.
dasavathaaram:
How can chaos theory be related to the events in dasavathaaram ? .
Let us start from the longest possible chain of events: Had there not been the cholas, there would not have been that temple in that area. The place would not have been a heritage place, as Vincent pointed out while arguing against the sand mafia. Vincent “might” not have come to the place at all. Govind and Andal might not have had the chance to escape from them. They would not have stolen the lorry. The collision with the van would not have happened. The Muslim lady would not have been injured. They might not have gone to the hospital. And then they might not have got the freezer box…. Now you can understand the chain which continues further. This is just a single example among many.
To clearly show that there is a connection between the 12th century and the 21st century, the huge stone idol that was thrown into the waters in the past, washes ashore. The tsunami which killed many people also helped in saving millions from the mass destruction due to the bio weapon which would have caused devastation on a far greater scale. And the tsunami is due to the movements of the tectonic plates that were formed millions of years ago.
Moreover, the stone idol is rempved from the temple in the 12th century….The idol of perumal lands on a mound of sand at the same place in the 21st century ( exactly before intermission ) and both the stone idol of 12th century and the idol of 21st century are close by at the end of the movie. Now, is this coincidence ???
No one who watches the movie would fail to notice the butterfly. Of what significance is a butterfly to this kamal movie ??? It is just that the movie tries to explain “the butterfly effect”. Edward Lorenz, a meteorologist studied various patterns in weather. Using a few mathematical equations, he saw a particular sequence in the weather pattern and forecast. Another day, he tried to analyse the weather using the same set of equation but a slightly ( very very slightly ) different value. Though he did not expect the same pattern, he expected a somewhat similar pattern. But what he found was a completely different pattern. He concluded that the weather is unpredictable. These observations were the foundations for chaos theory. Lorenz published a paper in which he says that, “the flutter of a butterfly’s wings in China could, in fact, actually effect weather patterns in New York City, thousands of miles away”. Thus it came to be called as “the butterfly effect”. And hence you see a butterfly in the movie. We see the butterfly in the beginning of the movie and at the end, which just suggests that all the patterns however unpredictable they were, really connected themselves from the beginning of the story to the end.
The story begins with the stone idol and ends with the same. Kamal and Asin get separated at the beginning and they join together at the end. They hold hands on the same idol.
The movie has no confusion in it. Everything is simple. The storytelling could not have been any simpler. And the story keeps the audience guessing the next event, the next scene, the climax and more. This itself is a testimony that the makers of Dasavathaaram have succeeded in explaining the theory of chaos.
Also read my article on dasavathaaram demystified
dasavathaaram demystified
Jun 19th
I have never seen Sathyam crowded at 8 in the morning, eager to watch a movie. Moreover, the whole crowd had tickets that were booked in advance, yet they come more than one hour before the screening. I have never seen the whole crowd wait and watch the movie till the last frame ends. All this and more in Dasavathaaram.
the genius:
Take ten different prime numbers. I claim that the ten roles of kamal in the movie are like these ten prime numbers. Each role of kamal is unique in its own way, much similar to the ten primes. Similar to the primes having one common factor (1), the ten roles have one common feature, the genius of kamal.
chaos theory:
The movie is based on a very famous theory called “chaos theory”. The simplest description would be “the butterfly effect”, which states that the fluttering wings of a butterfly in China can cause great changes in weather conditions in New York, which is thousands of miles away. And you can also see a butterfly in the movie when kamal explains the chaos theory in a scene. Basically, an event might seem trivial, but it might cause great effects elsewhere. Life can never be absolutely systematic, life cannot be described by a pattern. But life is not random either. Occurrence of every event has a reason, with nearly impossible predictability.
The clash between saivites and vaishnavites in the 12th century and the sunken statue need not be the direct cause for the tsunami in 21st century. But, that incident might have triggered a series of effects which ultimately led to the tsunami. Dasavathaaram tries to explain the subtle concept of chaos theory using ten delicate strands of sub-stories perfectly handled and woven together to form a perfect masterpiece. We can also notice that Andal in 21st century trips over the same stone on which Kodhai bangs her head in the 12th century. The thaali that Kodhai flings at Kulothunga Chozhan also falls on this stone statue.
the connection:
The important feature in the movie is that every part of the movie is linked with each other. It was Kulothunga Chozhan in 12th century and it was the sand mafia in the 21st century. And the place is the same.
In the 12th century, Rangaraja Nambi is devoted to God but Kodhai pleads to kamal telling that it is not wrong to chant a different mantra, for the benefit of oneself and one’s family. In the 21st century, it is the opposite. Andal is devoted to God but Govindraj is not.
In the 12th century, Rangaraja Nambi tries to save the idol from being removed. He also is tied to the idol. In the 21st century, Andal tries to save the idol from being taken away or mishandled.
perfection:
If a film can be called “perfect” in all aspects, the pick would be Dasavathaaram. The perfectionist in Kamal is evident in every scene. One very intricate detail, the microphone held by Avatar Singh while performing, proves this fact. The birds flying away just before tsunami also must be noted.
technology:
The technology in Indian cinema might be similar to that of Hollywood cinema ten years before, but Dasavathaaram has proved this notion wrong. The whole first half and most of the second half had some great shots and camera work. Especially the fight scenes, the car chase, with sparks from the flat tyres and so on.
dialogues:
Dialogues in the movie are powerful at places where they ought to be powerful and humorous where they ought to be so. One dialogue really caught my attention: “You are the south side of the north side facing horse…”. Dialogues like “Remember Hiroshima … Remember Pearl Harbor” really sends a message ringing in our minds. Wordplay is used in many places, as evident in “Terrific Scientist or Scientific Terrorist…”.
religions:
We find that in the movie, kamal appears as a Hindu, Muslim, Christian and a Sikh. Probably to spread the message that the purpose of all religions is to show the people the path to divinity, which is single. One very touching scene is where Krishnaveni paati considers Vincent as her own son who died years before, and gives vent to all her feelings. Caste or color does not distinguish a person. It is one’s character that does.
graphics:
More efforts could have been made towards the graphics part, which stood as an odd man out amidst some excellent shots and technology. Especially, the piercing of hooks on Nambi seemed too artificial. Same is the case with certain parts in the tsunami scene. The graphics is too good when compared to the graphics in other tamil movies, but for Dasavathaaram, they were not as expected. And all the science that I have studied never taught me that one can see virus through binoculars.
For those who come to watch this movie expecting commercial elements and not the story, this might look like an unsolved puzzle. The key to understanding this movie and its intricate details, one must understand oneself. Those who cannot understand the movie must not claim that the movie is a stupid one. Those who say that the movie has no story must realize that no other movie made till date has packed so much story and details in three hours. A lot of research and thinking has gone into the movie, apart from the devoted effort for two years. This is a movie to be remembered.
Also read my article on chaos in dasavathaaram
