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Giving a live commentary of deepavali is getting a little boring. Thats even to me but I just can’t resist this one.

The fireworks stuff, I think just got better over the years. South India has really adopted the crack the crakers in the night from the north over the last couple of decades. Tonight was a gala night as the skies lighted with the colors of fireworks. Sounds everywhere. Near ones, distant ones, echoed ones, lighted ones and what not.

Six years back, on a diwali evening, when me and my friend were driving desperately to Woodlands Drive-In, it was just zero visibility due to crackers, over T.Nagar and we just prayed not to bump on some poor pedestrian. Tonight wasn’t a similar one. The visibility was quite normal. Some kids say that in schools, their teachers were highly dis-couraging them of bursting crackers due to pollution. With half of the kids having this excuse and the other half glued to their television sets watching Baba and Azhagiya Theeye, the crackers have certainly lost a lil bit of their charm.

On televisions, Kamal Hasan ruled the day. Jaya TV’s 3 hour long show named Kalakka Povathu…Kamal, where Kamal had several guests like SPB, Chitra, Manorama and many others visiting him and sharing their experiences of working with him. All this and they also rendered some nicest songs. SPB sang the all-time hit, Kamban Yemaandaan and had Kamal to do lip sync for that. It was nearly perfect and SPB said this was a kind of soul sharing which he and Kamal had. Goosebumps. By popular expectation, Kamal sang that fantastical Anbe Sivam number in the end. Can’t have ended it better.

Trisha on a special interview was completely cool and seemed to be all herself. After a long time it was like witnessing a lead girl from the tinsel world who could shed all those fantasies surronding her and could talk sense. While talking about her Aayitha Ezhuthu experience she remembered how Mani Ratnam, to keep the crew’s spirit high, wore a life jacket and dived into the beach along with Sidharth and her during the shoot of Hey !! Goodbye Nanba. Long sentence that was.

Anniyan Vikram was on the ECR roads waving Happy Deepavali to strangers and giving them a sweet surprise. His long hair also says Anniyan is still on sets. Let’s hope they can make it to pongal. On Baba, Rajini is busy using that sixth mantra. Baba…Cinema Cinema.

Having read this year’s Deepavali special issue of Vikatan, I have to say that it is indeed one of the best gifts one can give/get for this Deepavali. When I started reading the Vikatan Deepavali Malar, I had a pre-conceived notion that its going to be another Ananda Vikatan with those typical commerical stuff. Not anymore.

If not for the Vikatan special issue, I think the best gift for most of the occasions could be a good book. Note this, Good Book. Not a bad one. So if a friend gifts me a pack of Ladoos this deepavali, he also has to foot the doctor bill and the costly tablets that my doctor prescribes me. The doc gets tons of free samples for such prescriptions from the medical companies. Thats another story. So if you are planning a gift, for your friend, how about a good book ?

Ashokamithran‘s account on the history of tamil short stories in Vikatan is awe-inspiring. He was able to size down the hundred year long history of tamil shortstories to a couple of pages. No wonder he still rocks.

Ashokamithran writes a monthly column for Kumudam’s Theeranadhi. Last month on Kumudam’s Theeranadhi, his column on Varanasi Kasi, set me thinking philosophically. His unique ability lies in conveying the most powerful things with a minimum set of words. A writer who certainly needs to be celebrated. This month in his theeranadhi page, the fiction based on the Iowa city is worth a mention. Will give a pointer to that article once it’s online.