Part-II The dream continues....

June 5th, 2008.

Part-II

Dear diary,

So, here we are after the half-time interval... For all those who found the film interesting in the first half, expect more of the same. And for all those who didn't ? Well, if you could manage to get through a three hour Vijay film, surely, this will be bread and butter for you guys.

The hero was accompanied by Ms. Kanimozhi, Ms. Tamilacchi, Mr. Subramanium, Mr. Arcot Veerasamy (no... not T.R...), Mr. Veeramani and others, but we're talking of heroes and not bits and pieces players.

I would not like to go into the details of the function and how each of the poets performed, but if I say my mom was the best on the day, you'd probably say that I'm blowing my own trumpet, so I'm not going to. Those present at the function can justify, anyway. And, maybe, I'm not that big a poet or a tamil literature maniac to judge people on the basis of their poems but even a lay man can judge a poet on the basis of the number of claps that you get. That might also not be fool-proof as some over-enthusiastic supporters, might want to show their love for Kalaignar by clapping for every mono-sylabble that is uttered.

Whichever way you look at it, my mom won hands-down. And anyway, this isn't a competition or a race where winner takes all. So, as long as one enjoys the function, the better it is for the poets themselves. Though, for my mom's wit in writing a 'daughter-to-father' letter to Kalaignar himself, I would still rate my mom's performance as one of the best, come what may. Kanimozhi was in awe, (as was everyone else) when she said " Unnai paadatha Kavignar illai, paadathavan Kavignar-e illai " and in splits when she said " Atleast give me an MP seat... " but again as I said we are talking about heroes here.

After the function ended, Mr. Karunanidhi went upto my mom and said " nalla paningamma. Santhippom... "

That was not all. A crowd of people (!) flocked around my mom and pestered her for autographs and amidst the melee, I nicked an autograph from her by posing as a commoner. There was just too many people around her for her to notice. It was a solid thirty minutes before she could escape and get into our car. Throughout the journey home, we dissected and discussed the function over and over.

As soon as we reached home, I asked my mom for dosas and she gladly obliged, her role as a poet now forgotten. When I woke up this morning at seven, I saw my mom at her table writing for the function. I went into the kitchen hoping to alteast have two slices of bread for breakfast, but she had prepared dosas for breakfast and sambhar, rasam, pulikozhambu, vaazhai kaai poriyal, kootu and thayir for lunch. Wonders never cease...

My mom is also the official chauffuer of the family as my dad doesn't drive, and she also handles all the finance of the family. She also hits the gym, goes to office till 6.00 pm, prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner and also coffee or tea ten times a day at various timelines according to the whims of the family members. Apart from this, she attends various functions like this one and writes short stories, poems for magazines and lyrics for films. I'm not proclaiming my mom as the best in the world, all moms are, but I'm just saying to a certain Shobaa De in no uncertain terms that you don't need to shun family in the pretext of writing.

When we have moms, we take it for granted that they need to serve us for life before we dump them at an old age home. My mom and I fight to no ends, every day in fact, but it's all part and parcel of life. It's almost become a ritual and we enjoy performing it. Maatha, Pitha, Guru, Theivam (Mom, Dad, Teacher, God...) can never be more relevant.

Bye Bye Dear diary....

June 7th,2008.

5.30 pm

Dear diary,

The time has arrived for our departure. We will leave the shores of Chennai today and seek adventure in Kodaikanal. The train leaves at 7.30 pm tonight. I'm really sorry that I'll be leaving you unattended for a few days.

These few days have been the best days of my life. I've been really linked to you more at a personal level than at a profesional front. I'll be really missing you for the next one week. But, don't you worry, when I come back, I'll surely dust you out and begin our relationship, again.

Thanks for all the memories. Take care.

Pssst: I'll publish Part-2 of the previous letter when I come back, for sure.

The man, M.Karunanidhi, himself....

June 5th, 2008.

Part- I

Dear diary,

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. I could not have imagined it to even turn out the way it did. It was right out of a Harry Potter novel. Everything went right for us. I mean, I finally took a bath after a gap of four "long" days (or was it five ?!!!) ... That in itself was an achievement. This was one plot that couldn't go wrong from there on.

We reached Kalaivanar Arangam at about 6 o' clock. One hour late considering the schedule. But, even the trains here in Chennai reach their destination atleast an hour late, so the less said about kaviyarangams, the better. Anyway, it meant that we arrived for our function not an hour late but an hour EARLIER than was required. That aptly sums up why Dasavatharam is finally releasing four months behind schedule.

So, at 7.00 pm, the organisers finally started the kaviarangam. Mr. Abdur Rehman was the chairperson of the symposium. He started off brilliantly well and was in his elements. He did crack some witty jokes and passed some brilliant comments. But then suddenly a murmur was heard. Soon, the murmur turned to a clamour and one man rushed into the hall perspiring and announced " The Chief Minister is arriving..." (Hear.. Oh hear... His Highness Mr. M. Karunanidhi varaar... varaar...!!!! ). Ok, so then all stage activities were abruptly stopped and the writers (which includes my mother...) on stage made a swift exit. That's what I like about Tamil nadu. Even during film shoots, there would always be tough competition amongst the crew as to who will reach the sets last. So, when the director and the stunt master reach the sets an hour late, the lead actor goes one better and reaches two hours later. It's an interesting game to play you know. That is, unless you are the lucky one... The producer...

This was the moment I was waiting for... I yearned to see the man who had captured millions of hearts, who had inspired crores of young minds, who had helped lakhs of people... I was waiting for that moment when I could finally see the living legend himself.

That moment didn't come anytime soon. You see, these functions teach you a lot of things that our books don't. They teach us to be patient and wait(!)...and wait(!!)...and wait (!!!) for all the good things to come to us. So, to ward off the boredom, the people started chanting. One man went up to the mike and said " Kalainar..." and the crowd that was brought in to fill up the seats chanted " Vaazhga "... I can understand devotion for God, but such an occurence ? This demi-god hadn't even reached the premises !

But, then I guessed that His Highness had finally arrived by noting the crowds of his bodyguards in mufti who rushed into the hall head first. But it was an excruciatingly long walk for the CM. He had to take an eternity to reach his seat. He was walking with small, uncertain steps, his arms thrown around two of his close relatives. They were almost carrying him through length of the hall. I felt sorry for him. Then the enormity of the situation suddenly began to strike me. The hall suddenly seemed to grow silent, the chants began to grow louder, all eyes began to focuson the tiny man walking down the aisle. It was THE moment when I realised what this small man had acheived. All the while, I was filled with just pure tongue-in-cheek remarks about his glory days. But it was at that moment that made me look back at all those Voldemorts, Hitlers, Bonapartes, Gueveras, Gandhis, Nehrus... This man was surely in their league. You might reject him outright, you may not support his many ideals, you might dislike the way he has run the government and go on and on about his ruthlessness, his greed etc., but just spare a thought for that man in a humanatarian sense. This one man has, through his lifetime, changed the entire face of Tamil literature. I'm not talking about his political acheivements here at all. But his contribution to Tamil literature is indeed immense and cannot be ignored. I couldn't help but think of him as a real-life Godfather. I was overcome by emotion. This man was almost losing his ability to walk, but not his devotion to Tamil literature. As the audience finally started to applaud, he took his seat and I couldn't help but join in.

3.30 pm...

June 4th, 2008.

3.30 pm

Ok, so even as I'm putting on final touches for looking good at the function, I can't help but take some time off for writing this piece. I'm quite happy and excited right now. My mom is barking her head off across the hall and the car is waiting patiently for our arrival. I seem to be the only one with my brains firmly on top of my shoulders at the moment, as even my sister is running about in circles looking for something. My dad is making frantic calls to my mom's mobile which go unanswered. Ok, it's a big occasion I agree, but do we need to lose our heads ? And anyway, we don't have much to lose... in terms of time or brains...

I need to wrap up right now if I have to reach the function hall with my parents by the car. Else I'd have to make do with a special van. Some call it the AMBULANCE... Take care... I'll keep you updated...

Yesterday Today Tomorrow....

June 2nd, 2008.

Oh no... My old habit loves me so much. I'm getting a bit tired... you see, I've been trying really hard not to put off things for the next day, but it seems that I'm destined to do so time and time again. So, here am I, again, writing about yesterday, today !

Things have started to really look up for us these recent weeks. We've been so happy these past few days that we all managed to actually laugh off a Chennai Super Kings defeat. Imagine that ! Ok...ok... On a more serious note, I've been able to laugh off a chapatti that spent too much time painting itself black. Well, you get the situation, don't you ? We've been so happy this weekend that it may send wrong signals to our neighours who might think we've won a million dollar lottery. We've won nothing of that sort, let me assure you. But, we've achieved quite a bit.

My mom, as some of you know, is an accomplished writer in Tamil literature. And she's female. That's quite an achievement in itself. I mean, being female is not an acheivement (!), but being a female writer in tamil is... Ok, so here's the situation. She has been asked to share stage space with the likes of Mr. Vairamuthu, Mr. Abdur Rehman, Mr. Mehta, Mr. Selvaganapathi and Mr. Karunanidhi apart from accomplished film personalities like Mr. Bhakyaraj, Mr. Deva, Manorama, Khusboo, Chinni Jayanth, Manivannan etc., But the fact is that she would read out poems and verses in praise of the greatest Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The occasion: Thiru M. Karunanidhi's 85th birthday celebration. This is not the first time that she's doing it. She's already done it with Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam when he was president. But of course, this would be the first time Mr. Karunanidhi celebrates his 85th birthday. (Bad pun, right...?) But, what's there to celebrate about for me ? It's just another boring itenary that I would do well to skip. But I'm not sure my mom would take it too kindly if I give her the slip ( I had already done so with Mr. APJ !!). I'm quite sure it'll be an eventful evening in two days time. I'll be out there amongst the crowd somewhere, savouring the moment and enjoying the function (Yawn...!!!).

Meanwhile, I watched "300" and I was impressed. But it wasn't that great a movie. I mean, it was full of passion and valour, but then I expected them to make it more heart-breaking. The 300 spartans die in heaps and that took the sheen of the film itself. Had they fallen one-by-one then the film would have been appreciated better.

Anyway, I'm going to watch "Ocean's eleven" now... So, it seems like it's curtains for yesterday's activities. I'll write about today, tomorrow !! Advanced happy reading....