My Musings

After many weeks Vijaya and I resumed our long walks around Mylapore yesterday (17 Feb 2008). We started walking as usual via the Norton Street. There was a proposal to rename this street as Ki Vaa Jagannatha (Iyer) Street, in honour of the famous Tamil writer and long-time editor of Kalaimagal. What happened to the renaming? We explored the kurukku therus (Cross streets) branching off Norton Street and came to the Sri Veera Anjaneyar Koil . This Koil is a small but very beautiful one with about 8 feet tall statue of Sri Anjaneya. After worshipping here, we walked to Sri Vedanta Desikar Koil . Sri Vedanta Desika lived over 730 years ago in South India. He wrote erudite commentaries on Ramanuja's Sribhashyam, Gita Bhashyam and was a great exponent of Visishtadvaita. Apart from Sri Desikar’s vigraha, there are Sannadhis for Hayagriva, Sri Rama, and others. The Moolavar here is Sri Srinivasa Perumal with Sri Alarmel Mangai Thayar. The annual Dhavanothsavam is being held here now from ...

A couple of days ago I watched the film Taare Zameen Par , starring the child artiste Darsheel Safary . The film is directed and produced by Amir Khan. Such a wonderful, and moving film. At many places, I had to control my tears. Fantastic acting by that eight-year old boy. This film is sure to touch your heart and soul. This is already a mega Super-duper hit all over the world. The story is about an eight year old boy Ishaan Avasthi and his problem. "On the whole, TAARE ZAMEEN PAR is an outstanding work of cinema. To miss it would be sacrilege. It has everything it takes to win awards and box-office rewards! Do yourselves a favor. Watch TAARE ZAMEEN PAR with your child. It will change your world. It will also change the way you look at your kids! " - Taran Adarsh, the well-known film critic. Dyslexia is most commonly characterized by difficulties with learning how to decode at the word level, to spell, and to read accurately and fluently. Ishaan Awasthi , an eight-year old ...

Since I went to Poona in 1962, I have been a regular reader of the weekly BLITZ. Those days it used to cost just 25p. It used to sell out within minutes of arriving in the news-stalls, and one will miss it if one is late even by 30 minutes! Such was the craze for the magazine - from North to south, from East to west, across the entire country. The weekly was extremely popular for its sensational news reports. Free, Frank and Fearless. That’s how Blitz described itself, and lived up to its self-description It was started by Russi Karanjia(b: 1912) on 1st Feb 1941 and was flourishing for over 4 decades, before closing down in mid-1990s when Karanjia became unwell and was confined to his apartment. Blitz courageously and creatively espoused many worthy causes. Apart from Karanjia himself, this contribution to socially committed journalism came, first, from Khwaja Ahmed Abbas , the celebrated writer and film-maker (his Saat Hindustani marked Amitabh Bachchan’s entry into Hindi cinema) who...

This year's (2007) CNN-IBN channel's Life Time Achievement Award was given to the most uncommon Man - the Mysore born Rasipuram Krishnaswamy LAXMAN, whose common man has held a mirror to the birth, rise and growth of a nation on the front page of The Times of India for well over 50 years now through “You Said It“. The adjectives flowed freely, and for once unquestionably justly, as Laxman, now bound to a wheelchair after a paralytic stroke three years ago, was ushered in on stage. “For a lifetime of contributions to society, for a lifetime of achievements,” said anchors Vidya Shankar Aiyar and Suhasini Haider. But when the citation was read, the 84-year-old Laxman bawled like a baby as former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and vice-president Hamid Ansari joined the audience in standing and saluting a common man who has become uncommon in modern India. “For being one of the most incisive observers of post-independence India; for making millions of Indians smile every single mornin...