'Jaya' Berigai kottada....

All you upper caste jackals out there celebrating the arrest of Spectrum Raja and forwarding SMSs badmouthing the man and his party, hang your heads on shame for you have betrayed the modern-day King Mahabali of Tamil Nadu, Mr Andimuthu Raja.
Those wondering adding vowels to your excalmations like 'Raja o, Mahabali o,' Yes, see MK's speech today in which he has likened Raja to the great Raja Mahabali. What wrong did Raja do? Just because he helped mobile phone facilities reach the poor, he is suffering in jail. Just because he favoured the not-so-money-minting realty-backed firms Swan Telecom and Uninor to help them grow in their new venture without expecting an iota of commission from them, he suffers in jail. Just because he made available the pleasure of telephony services to all the Dalits in the country, he is suffering in jail. Just because he hails from the downtrodden community, he is now suffering in jail due to the upper caste politics.
Sollunga yejaman solunga, indha paapara pasangale ippadi thaan!

But why stop with Mahabali alone? U can take oodles of mythical references like these:

• The same people demonised King Ravana (because he is of Kshatriya caste) who saved Sita from that 'parpana' doubting Thomas are now back taking their vengeance on Raja who provided mobile services to Dalits by favouring not-so-thriving- companies.
• And you can also compare Raja to Jesus Christ (maybe, you can get the sypathy and support of minority community who knows!). Like how He suffered whiplashes for His people, Raja is suffering in jail for making mobiles affordable to the poor.
• "Pittukku mann sumandhaan paramasivan, indru cellukku punn sumakkirar engal Dravida Chudar".
  But one thing, whether it's reference to Vamana or Mahabali, DMK is today a Trivikrama with its presence in almost every field.

New Year Gifts

As we enter a new year filled with optimistic hopes and ambitions and all those never-to-be-implemented resolutions, thought I should gift people who made 2010 unforgettable. So here goes a list of personalities and the gifts dat I wish 2 give 'em. And the topper is, who else than our own Dravida Sudar, A Raja..

A Raja - Hi-funda 3g-enabled mobile phone

Niira Radia - again a mobile phone with anti-tapping software

Dr Manmohan Singh - Innocenti Ignoranti mask

Karunanidhi - zandu balm thalai vali neekum balm (poor old man, entangled between all his sons and daughter and grand nephews)

Ratan Tata - a black suit! (u know wat i mean if u hav listened to the Radiagate conversation)

Barack Obama - a mouthguard (the O man hurt his mouth in a basket ball match and wasn't even able to pronounce 'superfluous'. With this mouthguard, 'YES, YOU CAN')

Jairam Ramesh - DVDs of comedian Vadivelu (to come out with new statements to tickle the funny bone of citizens)

Rahul Gandhi - a 'dabba' of saffron (bhai saab, saffron is not dat dangerous)

Director Shankar - kayakalpam (in his tireless effort to show a 60-plus man young on screen, poor guy, he seems very aged)

Mani Ratnam - books on 108 Upanishads (u can make a film based on these also) plus a bonus - photo profile of leading actressess in Bollywood, Kollywood, tollywood, firewood, etc (U seem to know only the Ice Queen, but please saab mudke toh zara dekho naa kitni actressess hain jo 'acting' jaante hain!!)

Shishir Kunder (Farah khan's hubby) - a month-long vacation with Baadshah SRK (to make him realise "u can't try a satire on a man whom u have never met!")

and....

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To my own self - a box of cottonwool (to avoid all the muft gyaan & gibberish talk u-know-who- give me)

to my wonderful husband - a hi-power hearing enhancer

When Gayathri Married Suganth (WGMS)

Back from a Sabbath. But this post is not a travelogue. Just ramblings of a married woman who went to her in-laws' place and got earful 'muft gyaan' - which almost remains the same despite of how old you get and I assume all married women go thru this gibberish!

For those who are familiar wid WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, pls read on...

I hate that when our in-laws say u have lost weight despite seeing ur tummy. I hate that your folks say u have become darker when that is ur original color (Come on, u din give me a S. Indian version of Duggu sans 6 fingers in marriage to me). I hate that people can mollycoddle a 30-yr old, irrresponsible, slack son and cannot even consider a slogging-@-home-and-office 25-yr old d-i-l. I hate that the oldies there give 'muft gyaan' on hommade cooking when they themselves use all kinda paste/mix/powders from Reliance Fresh's shelves. I hate that it takes you an hour and a half to taste the very mediocre recipes (sorry, but dats d truth, ya kno?) doled out by your folks and give your esteemed opinion about them (but gobble new/delicious ones doled out by me widout uttering a word). i hate that after all these days I've spent with u, I am still being treated as a doormat. But I love that my son (u gave me him, dats d only reason i'm silent wid u people) is the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night.

THE ORIGINAL DIALOGUE IN WHMS

I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out, I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich, I love when you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts, I love that after I've spent the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to begin as soon as possible.

'Punch'athantiram

This is not a reproduction of that original lyrics wid Ramya Krishnan gyrating her hips. This is about Dravida Sudar Spectrum Raja & his chief... An imaginary duet (no, don't imagine dirty things!) between the duo.

Movie: Thollaipesi

Song: Bhajan bhajan

Singers: Raja, Karunanidhi

Chorus singers: Lady Fruitlanguage, Raoul (a) Rahul, and all Kazhaga udanpirappus

Chorus: umba umba umba...

um mere jaan mere jaan sunday hey sunday (3)

MK: vai raaja vai un kaiezhuthai vai

sei raaja sei nee rajinaama sei

Tenders ellam poi poi idhil paisa mattum mei mei

Chorus: bajan bajan padhavi bajan sei bajan bajan

bajan bajan spectrum bajan sei bajan bajan

Raja: nama nama nama nama nama namannu irukkudhey

1g 2g 3g ... 3g oozhal kolludhey

kodhi kodhi kodhi... kodhiyena kodhikkum ratham kodhikkudhey

kizhi kizhi kizhi..... media ennai kizhikkudhey

aiyayo padhavi maelae aasai ennai thuvaikkudhey

achacho en mugathil vekkam kooda maraiyudhey
MK: 2G um 3G um

spectrumkuLLae koodudhal poalae

1.76 latcha kodiyai suruttuvom oru poarvaikkuLLae
Chorus: bajan bajan padhavi bajan sei bajan bajan

bajan bajan spectrum bajan sei bajan bajan

Marriage matter

Some things never change - amma saapadu, hero worship in India, dog's tail... Add men also in the list. Yes, I tryd 2 keep my cool today morning and be all smiles at watever goof-ups my man makes since it is hubby's birthday today. But i propose, God dispose. He thot that will be so un-gayathri-ish, it seems. Hubby scores well in office tasks (read cinema reviews. Wake him up in sleep and ask him about Audrey Hepburn/Ms plastic Rai. Wiki will be put to shame!) but in simple household tasks he fails. Like these:
Me: (trying to sound romantic and patting hubby's shoulder) Daaaahling, Happy B'day. Mwah!
H: he he, thank u babe... Ghorrrrrr (turns the other side and snores).
First disappointment in the morning.

Me: So what color shirt did u get? show me na? wat sweet do I prepare?
H: Nothing (for both the questions)

Me: (in a happier tone) Mani, my story is the lead tomorrow da.
H: (in a not-so-interested tone) oh. can u pls uncork the pickle dabba?
Ugh, useless :(
Household task
Me: Pls turn the washing machine to drain mode and remember to close the bathroom door. U got it?
H: Ya ya. I understood.
After a while he yells out that the bedroom is fulla water and blames me that I wuda done something. Panicked, I go and find out that he din close the door and let the drain water flow into the room. That's the end of it. All hell broke loose and I start yelling. Hubby cooly says - Diwali mudinja apromum namma veetla pattasu vedikaradhe! Oh, maybe naan thiri (pun on my name Gayathri) a killi potuteno?!
Called my friend to lament but she was lamenting to me... I think marriage is an EVIL NECESSITY (for all the women and for some men). Won't they change? what are these creatures' heads wired into?!

Food for thought

Brahmana Bhojanapriya: — so goes an adage in Sanskrit. But, I consider everyone as a bhojanapriya (lover of food). No, this is not going to be a churn-out-a-new recipe post. And, sitting in the Commodities desk, I cannot but crib about the crop prospects and monsoonal vagaries. and, I'm not gonna give any big numbers (like most typical biz journos. Hope our 'thala' takes it in the lighter vein!).
Weather plays a prime role in any crop harvest and so let's connect weather systems with foodgrain output first. Let’s look at the global scenario: hot summer (unusually) in the US (lower supplies of corn, rice wheat), drought in Russia, Brazil (hitting grains), heavy rains wreaking havoc in Canada and Europe (affecting grain and oilseed crops to a large extent).
A global food crisis situation looms large. As soon as the US’ corn stockpiles hit a 14-yr low, prices hit the upper circuit at Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the world’s biggest futures exchange and as such, prices of agri commodities rose in tandem in Europe. If this price rise continues, food inflation woes will get worser. And this is likely to be aggravated by the entry of speculators who may push up the prices further.
Coming to India, we are, this year, blessed with one of our best agricultural years and record grain stocks. But the blessing seems to have a great flaw — inefficient food management system. We are saddled with a double-digit food inflation while a huge chunk of foodgrains rot in public warehouses. Rigid formulae and archaic rules (such as the disbursement of grain to States thro’ PDS a year is based on the average offtake for the preceeding three years. This was actually framed to release the grains ca
refully during times of shortage. But now, this seems to be an outdated law but yet it prevails) hinder the govt to quickly release grain to overcome crisis situations. Although the Economic Survey and experts like Pronab Sen offer a handy solution in the form of food coupons, again, one wonders whether it will be as successful here in India as in other developing countries given our inefficient and not-so-transparent governance!

Faded out

Used to be an avid movie-watcher. But these days the interest seems to be fading out. thanks to "real" cinemas - violence and sex hits on ur face. Another in thing seems to be the new-found interest on rural subjects. Started with kunguma poovum konjum puravum, I think. and then there were scores of films on dealing with rural storyline - new 'heroes' with an unshaven face and unkempt 'parattai' thalai to give a rustic look. Whoa! All the faces seem to be alike and not to mention the heroines (barring Priyamani) with their 'thiruttu' muzhi. All these faces sport a look - suttu potalum enakku nadikka varaadhu! Don't know who imposed such a rule. Look at the 80s movies, majority of them dealt with rural storyline, but the heroes looked good with a shaven face, if not nice - Rajini (Murattu kaalai, Thambikku entha ooru), Kamal (Sakala kala vallavan, ullasa paravaigal - ok semi-urban).

Another noticeable thing is the missing sets - yes, those masjestic ones that evoked a sense of grandeur to any song. we use(d) to watch MGR songs keenly for those superb sets as in - Raajavin paarvai, Anbe vaa (title song), aayiram nilave vaa, azhagiya tamil maghal ival, etc... Next to him, I think kamal hassan. Romantic songs of his early masala movies contained this element - Kaadhal Parisu, Kaaki Sattai.(My uncle says TR's songs too sported good sets but i don't think i'll watch a full-grown bear doing exercise.) These days pan the cam to Alps 'adivaram' or US with the hero fully covered and the heroine scantily dressed shivering and shaking legs (i dono whether it is a dance form or really shivering) in minus temp. I think the last time we saw 'set' is in Shivaji (Vaa ji vaaji song) grandly erected for a thatha-pethi bath scene (Lol!)