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  • December 15, 2004

    A dramatic need/urgency

    Re-reading a book of Writer Balakumaran, after 6-7 years set me thinking for the quintessential dramatic need at the end of every story. While dramatic need is a concept often talked about during the script writing stages of a movie-making, it plays a vital role in usually completing the story that had started.

    Just like screen-writing, even the books have three distinct stages viz., the start, conflict and the end. Towards the end, most writers seem to hurry in sneaking a dramatic need and completing the story. This could either be due to the lack of space/time and other undocumented reasons. One other reason could be that the writer probably has already started work on his next project and wants to rush through the current one.

    Anbulla Appa, a short novel of Balakumaran which was out during the late 90s did impress me at that time due to the philosophical values it hinted. Was discussing this with some friends a few days back and it prompted me to go back and re-read it. Reading a same book after few years is a wonderful feeling. At a sub-conscious level it scales your mental growth.

    Coming back, Anbulla Appa talks about a teenager who due to his family compulsions is set to be sold for adoption. What follows is how he wades through these tough days to grasp the meaning of relationships. While the book itself is very philosophical, at the fag-end it stuck me that the writer rushed through the final parts just to complete the story. This is exactly where the dramatic need of the story gets transformed to a dramatic super-urgency. All the time, during the book, he was relaxed in preaching philosophy and just at the point of climax, speeded through. A similar quick-end also came to his recent book, Yezhaavathu Kaathal.

    If this is in a case of a movie, I agree to the rational behind it. Making the movie climax at appropriate length is an art and its a tightrope walk. But a book can always accommodate two more extra pages to give completeness to the story. A movie watcher is tad different from a book reader. A book reader, presumably spends more time than in reading a decent sized novel and the most important distinction is that he reads it alone. Unlike movies which are watched mostly alongwith public. So the bond that the writer strikes with the reader is much better than a movie director. He can use this liberty to his favor. At times at the end of the book, I feel a let down. A let down just because the writer rushed through the final stuff.

    Balakumaran is just used here as a reference. All or most of the writers have at some point of their writing career have done this. Now the question I am pondering over is that, if I am the odd one noticing stuff like this or are there other takers with better explanations ?

  • December 14, 2004

    Badri Aandal Suggest

    I did get a chance to watch the interview of Badri Seshadri, co-founder of CricInfo and an avid blogger, in Jaya TV. Apart from the unique innovations that he planning for his publishing venture, Kizhakhu Pathippagam, his bullets to the aspiring entrepreneurs were worthy. It was obvious that they were drawn from his hard earned experience. Great going.

    Desikan is on a Thiruppaavai trip. To celebrate the festive month of Marghazhi, Desikan plans to capture the magic of Aandal’s Thiruppaavai in his blog. Today, his detailed writeup on Aandal[17 pages by print] takes the cake.

    Google’s new service Google Suggest simply rocks. This is where the quest for real-time seach begins. And there is a long way to go. Here, as you type the search query in Google, it suggests you the top 10 queries, word by word. Confused ? Try it yourself.

    If you are searching me for the confusing title up there, escape.

  • December 13, 2004

    Finally. Oracle buys PeopleSoft for

    Finally. Oracle buys PeopleSoft for $10 billion. Isn’t that a breaking news ?

    This part of the press release is impressive –

    “We intend to enhance PeopleSoft 8 and develop a PeopleSoft 9 and enhance a JD Edwards 5 and develop a JD Edwards 6. We intend to immediately extend and improve support for existing JD Edwards and PeopleSoft customers worldwide.”

  • December 13, 2004

    MSS Mudhal MSS Varai

    MS Subbulakshmi
    [Pic: hindu.com]

    Extract from MS: A Life In Music by TJS George, HarperCollins India –

    M.S.Subbulakshmi and her husband once stayed at the New York Apartment of an executive of the Esso Oil Company. After lunch one day, MS began singing for the small gathering of friends who had assembled in the apartment. To their dismay, repairs in the adjoining apartment provided a steady accompaniment of hammer knocks and metal sawing. MS’s host was embarrassed but said was helpless. MS alone seemed unconcerned and went on singing.

    (more…)

  • December 12, 2004

    We will miss you, MS Subbulakshmi

    MS Subbulakshmi
    [Pic: hindu.com]

    Shocked. In search of words to say. Your voice will always heard and re-heard by the coming generations. You will live in the hearts of all carnatic music lovers and non-lovers. Good bye MS Subbulakshmi.

    Update [13th Dec 2004]: This blog was closed yesterday in memory of Bharat Ratna MS Subbulakshmi. If you had dropped in here, the whole of yesterday and saw this closed today page, for the kind of admiration and respect that I had for MSS, I wanted to something within my limits to pay homage to the God’s Own Voice and hence I decided to close this blog for one day.

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