kirukkal.com

Its only now, amidst the heat of elections that I miss watching NDTV and Prannoy Roy‘s analysis talks. Just after when NDTV was started as a channel, there were all-india elections and one could see how NDTV as a channel changed the face of television media for news and analysis. What was only an election day affair at Doordarshan becamse an everyday thingy at NDTV. At NDTV channel, Prannoy was able to pull in a great team together, probably the best in their own areas like statisticians and political analysts.

Today they say IBN Live is rocking the nation with its deadly reporting team and great leadership. Being biased towards NDTV, I am happy for Rajdeep[has a blog] who grew at NDTV and was able to pull together a good team at IBN, with the financial content backing coming from CNN. Now when NDTV sells its videos for a cost, IBN gives it away for free at its site, atleast for now. And thats good for a consumer. But I wish to see Rajdeep questioning Cho Ramaswamy. Last time, Prannoy tried to buckle him down with aggressive cross-questioning and I have to say Prannoy would regret that incident for a long time to come.

Just recently I subscribed to Time, offline. I got my first subscription magazine and it was a special issue.The cover story was about the 100 Most Influencial People in the World. For each of them on the list, a related celebrity had written a passage on their ideas and lives.

While the list was very US centric, it had Nandan Nilekani listed in Builders & Titans section. Thomas Friedman, the author of The World is Flat, was the one who had written on the Infosys man. You might recollect, Friedman had nice things to say on Nandan even in the introduction of The World is Flat. I did expect Rahman to be featured in the list of artists but was disappointed not to find him there. Vikram Akula was the other Indian who made it to the list.

Ofcourse it had a lot of tech guys. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia topped the scientists and thinkers category. Who else other than Chris ‘The Long Tail‘ Anderson could write about him. Great profile that one was. The other guys on tech were, Caterina and Stewart – the founders of Flickr, Chris and Tom – the Myspace dudes, Omid Kordestani – Senior VP of Global Sales at Google and the Skype guys – Zenn and Friis were also included. James Gosling – the Java founder had nice things to say about the Skype guys. Bill and Melinda Gates were featured in the Leaders and revolutionaries category for Gates Foundation.

I’m sure you will atleast get to know ateast 20 people, unknown to many of us, otherwise. A nice read on the bus.

‘Arisi’yal ? ‘Arasi’yal ?

malarndhum malaraadha paadhi malar poala
malarum vizhivannamae – vandhu
vidindhum vidiyaadha kaalaip pozhudhaaga
vilaindha kalaiyannamae
nadhiyil vilaiyaadi kodiyil thalaiseevi
nadandha ilam thenralae – valar
podhigai malai thoanri madhurai nagar kandu
polindha thamizh manramae

malarndhum malaraadha paadhi malar poala
malarum vizhivannamae – vandhu
vidindhum vidiyaadha kaalaip pozhudhaaga
vilaindha kalaiyannamae
nadhiyil vilaiyaadi kodiyil thalaiseevi
nadandha ilam thenralae – valar
podhigai malai thoanri madhurai nagar kandu
polindha thamizh manramae

yaanaip padai kondu saenai pala venru
vaazhap pirandhaayadaa puviyaalap pirandhaayadaa
aththai magallai manam kondu ilamai vazhi kandu
vaazhap pirandhaayadaa vaazhap pirandhaayadaa

aththai magallai manam kondu ilamai vazhi kandu…
aththai magallai manam kondu ilamai vazhi kandu
vaazhap pirandhaayadaa

thangak kadiyaaram vaira maniyaaram
thandhu manam paesuvaar porul thandhu mannam paesuvaar
maaman thangai magalaana mangai unakkaaga
ulagai vilai paesuvaar ulagai vilai paesuvaar
maaman thangai magalaana mangai unakkaaga…
maaman thangai magalaana mangai unakkaaga
ulagai vilai paesuvaar

nadhiyil vilaiyaadi kodiyil thalaiseevi
nadandha ilam thenralae – valar
podhigai malai thoanri madhurai nagar kandu
polindha thamizh manramae

siragil enai moodi arumai magal poala
valarththa kadhai sollavaa
kanavil ninaiyaadha kaalam idai vandhu
piriththa kadhai sollavaa…
piriththa kadhai sollavaa

kannil mani poala maniyil nizhal poala
kalandhu pirandhoamadaa – indha
mannum kadal vaanum maraindhu mudindhaalum
marakka mudiyaadhadaa uravaip pirikkamudiyaadhadaa

anbae aariraaraaroa aariraaraaroa aariraaraariroa
anbae aariraaraaroa aariraaraaroa aariraaraariroa

Images : Paasamalar video
Lyrics – Music India Online

Shot 45 years back, this is still the most perfect song ever shot for a tamil film. And then there is Pachai Niramey from Alai Paayuthey.

From the camera to editing to lyrics, music and performance, just about everything dazzles here. A classic example of aaberi raaga which has created magic in just about every song it has been used, on-screen.

Anytime Pasamalar is played on cable, the whole of Tamilnadu starts to shed a tear. A classic, it really is.