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Today, Mumbai is back to business. People suffered a lot on Tuesday evening, but only after 12 to 15 hours they are back to their duties/business without any fear, travelling in the same crowded trains. This is the spirit of Mumbai. Terrorists can explode bombs in trains or even at strategic locations, but they cannot break the Mumbai spirit.

This spirit is sufficient to frustrate the evil design of terror-mongers. They can draw satisfaction from material damage but they are unable to break the moral, courage and spirit of Mumbaikars.

Despite the jamming of all telecommunication and transportation hurdles on Tuesday evening, Mumbaikars rose to the occasion. They helped each other; passed well-being messages through incoming STD calls; provided food, water and shelter to stranded fellow Mumbaikars; donated blood; helped the administration in traffic control and at blast sites.

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Seems like RD got it all wrong. I’ve never been up at Mumbai. I don’t know what it feels be a mumbaiite. But when all the media is going ga-ga over it’s spirit, I couldn’t stop getting amazed. I want to stay at Mumbai for atleast twenty hours.

Couple of weeks back, yet another nice soul, got a bunch of books from Chennai. This bunch didn’t contain any Sujatha books except for Katrathum Petrathum 3.

Ashokamithran’s Ottran was the highlight of this bunch and I’m currently at the fag end of this book. I think its a great book. One of the finest from Ashokamitran. Ottran is partly fiction, partly memoir. Ottran chronicles seven months of Ashokamitran’s stay in the Iowa University during the 70’s. He was invited to stay there as a part of global writers program. Ashokamitran makes some fantastic-yet-simple observations of the desi life in the US which hasn’t been registered in tamil literature until now. Being written in the first person style, this is a gripping and down-to-earth slice of a writer’s life.

The other books included two more from Ashokamitran. Karaindha Nizhalgal – a novel based on Chennai filmdom and Azhivatrathu, collection of Ashokamitran shortstories written after the millennium. This bunch also included two of S. Ramakrishnan’s series, Thunnaiezhuthu and Kathavilasam that were published by Vikatan. Ra. Ki Rangarajan’s Naalu Moolai was also one of them.