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As Vikatan enters it’s 81st year in publishing, its clear that Vikatan has managed to keep up with the interests of Tamil people. What started as a monthly magazine in 1926 turned into a fortnightly and then finally landed up as a weekly magazine from November 1933.

Guess how Vikatan Thatha celebrated his 81st birthday ? Pushed the celebration charges to his readers. Yep. What a dark comedy it is grab an extra 5 bucks from the readers to celebrate his birthday. Not many time such things has happened with vikatan. Vikatan which costs about 10 bucks an issue, costs 15 Rs for this week. During the last week’s issue, there was a letter from the editor which said the readers have to support the price hike for just this issue. The letter also read that its readers should consider the price hike as a birthday gift for Vikatan. Where in the world does the birthday boy get to decide how much his guests should pay for a gift. One has to agree there are many special columns for the extra buck charged. Still, even an avid reader would feel that this is a crude way to accommodate the special issue.

Vikatan was subscribed in my family. Right from my thatha days, it’s been a member of my family for a long time. There used to be a fight on Wednesday mornings to grab the fresh copy of Vikatan and read it. That’s the same thing at least 2-3 generations of people would say. Isn’t that enough to apprise the impact of Vikatan on Tamil people’s life. Though I have to admit their ultra special Diwali Malar 2005 didn’t stand up to it’s culture. With a few columns and couple of travelogues which made value, nothing much glittered in that special issue. But I wouldn’t admit Vikatan would go invalid in the next 10-15 years. It has been open enough to the changing tastes and has kept abreast of the growth. It has been the pulse of Tamil nation and has managed to deliver something for all ages.

I subscribe to the internet edition of Vikatan and I have to say that I’m impressed. Especially if you are a desi, its just $ 11 for a year’s subscription. And that gives the option to read Ananda Vikatan, Junior Vikatan, Aval Vikatan, Shakthi Vikatan, Sutti Viktan and Vikatan Cinema. A kill for the buck. If you aren’t a subscriber and you crib that you aren’t in touch with the happenings at Tamil Nadu, subscribe to Vikatan, I say.

P.S Don’t miss to check-out the mock on Rajini’s Sivaji by the acclaimed artists like Ma.Se, Shyam and Haran.

Karka Karka song from Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu sounds pretty good than the initial hearing, alongwith the trailer. Fabulous selection of the percussions especially when you listen through the car deck. And the point where the long shout of than saavai sattai payil vaithu engeyum selkindraan… merges with the music is a sure thrill. The rap by itself sounds much much better than the trailer. The male voice that creeps inbetween by singing nara vettaigal vettaigal aada, I think its Nakul or Tippu really spoils the whole show. Extremely feminine and doesn’t gel with the whole macho wordings in lyrics.

BTW, am I just the one who’s totally bored of having songs that ‘talk’ about our hero’s super-hero capabilities. Especially if its a Kamal movie. This song Karka Karka seems to talk about Raghavan a tough cop and his macho capabilities. The last time there was such a song on Kamal was for Panchathanthiram. Rajini is an exception, sometimes Vijay is also fine because he has managed to do it well. With Vijaykanth, I’m frustated because there is no variety and he usually walks in a thiruvizha with a maalai around his neck. You too Gautam ??

The Holi(not holy) picture in Tamil Murasu and Hindusthan Times is creating few blogposts in the Indian Blogosphere. I’m annoyed not by the picture but such blog posts.

Given the state of affairs of the Indian Media, I’m positive the photographer or the journalist hasn’t taken the permission to publish this picture. Maybe I’m wrong. If only they have taken the permission of the guys on the photograph, what the heck guys, what’s wrong with posting those pictures? No one morphed few photographs to make this collage. It seems real, it’s happening. Agreed, it’s an invasion of privacy and that is a cause of concern but none of these blogposts seem to raise that as an issue. If that’s the concern, I take it. Rather if someone is passing moral judgements on what should and what should not appear on newspapers, are they not trying to do the same moral policing which happened in Chennai clubs, few months back.

Remember the issue with Shankar’s Boys when the whole Tamilnadu took a holy dip with a rush to save the boys’ virginity. This one seems like a similar issue involving excessive amounts of vigorous hypocrisy. Who’s having the last laugh now ?