A South-Indian Classical Music Fan Speaks

Dilli Babu, for as long as I have known him, swore by classical music. “In the cruel summer nights, when walking around the house butt naked and taking a shower every 7 minutes also didn’t help, I listen to this composition in Jagan Kalyan. And, I sleep like a baby post that!” He said, wiping the foam off the corners of his mouth.

He was visibly upset by the recent fracas over South Indian sensibilities. “What do these guys know? They are not qualified to critique I say!” He screamed at me, as he hiked his Lungi up. “If Bangalore is South India, going by what they wrote, Nochhu kuppam is Thailand!” He added, tossing a Cheedai in the air and catching it with his mouth.

“So there’s no truth in More...

Comments (6)

Anna Podi: That killer powder from Andhra

Anna Podi is an Andhra Chetty recipe. It is a powder that you mix with steamed rice and eat. My mother picked this recipe up from her Komiti Chetty friends in Chittoor.

Ingredients

  • Peanuts: 2 cups
  • Roasted Gram Dal (pottu kadalai): 2 cups
  • Red chillies: about 15 (but depends on how spicy you want it to be.
  • Tamarind: a small ball
  • Salt: as desired (but go easy on it. A couple of spoons should work for the aforementioned quantities)
  • Asafoetida (hing): a pinch

Preparation

  1. Roast the peanuts and chillies (without oil, yes.)
  2. Mix peanuts with the roasted gram dal (Note: No need to fry the dal. It’s already roasted yo!)
  3. In a ladle, heat a spoonful of oil. Turn the stove off.
  4. Add the small ball of Tamarind to the heated oil. (If you went “What

More...

Comments (4)

Note to indie man

An indie movie maker said this

It’s easy to make a film (comparatively) when you have a posh office set up, Nescafe counter at every alley of it, assistants with iPhones, ‘whatever’ attitude and a man on a big roller chair telling you what to do next. It’s quite easy in my opinion because when you are part of so-called commercial cinema you have enough money to hire people to do jobs for you. But in independent cinema, you have to take in your own hands the responsibility to do each and everything. You have to be a multi-tasker, you must be ready to become a spot boy as well as an actor if need arises yet all the risk and blame for the failure of film will be duly credited to you. It all starts with a desire

More...

Comments (0)

Rosy

Comments (10)

Raghava Reddy’s Turtle

An exaggerated version of a true story, as told to me by a friend who chose to remain anonymous. Yeah. You’ll know why he did so after you have read this story.

He threw our clothes, splashed some kerosene on them, and set them on fire. We stood there, standing by the edge of the irrigation well, and watched. Once he was satisfied that our clothes were burnt to his satisfaction, Raghava Reddy, turned to us. The only thought that was running in my head was ‘if he hits me, I can’t raise my hands to defend myself: my hands were busy defending something far more important.

Raghava Reddy was an ancient man. Some said he was 60. Some said 80. But from when I knew him, I was 14, he had been the same: lanky, dark man with More...

Comments (7)

Wanted: UX Researcher for ESPN Digital Media

We’re looking for a Contractor for 6 months (extendable). You get to work on various sports portals from the ESPN network of sites, including ESPNcricinfo.com, ESPNF1.com, and ESPNsoccernet.com. If you have a passion for sports and your profile matches the criteria below, write to sumank/gmail

Essential functions:

  • Play a role in developing the information architecture and interaction design of rich and complex interactive experiences on various platforms
  • Articulate UX concepts and solutions through wireframes and prototypes of varying fidelity.
  • Develop and document detailed user experience specifications for highly interactive designs.
  • Will report to the ESPN Digital Media – EMEA UX team

 Basic Qualifications:

  • 1-3 years in similar role
  • Experience on front end / consumer driven web sites.
  • Prepared to show documentation and portfolio of sites worked on.
  • Should possess a firm grasp of web technology trends

More...

Comments (0)

The Legend of Elikunji

Mothers spoke about him in hushed whispers. When they fed their babies. “If you don’t finish your lunch, Elikunji will take you away.” We debated “Does he exist? Or is it just a maternal conspiracy to make the babies eat?” But, somewhere in the dark corners of our minds, a nagging question kept us on tenterhooks: what if he is for real?

There were too many small stories, snippets, trivia that contributed to the larger-than-life outlaw called Elikunji. First, the name: Elikunji in Tamil meant ‘baby rat or rat’s penis’ depending on how you look at it. Conversations with old men on Pagadamanu street confirmed my doubts. Elikunji was vertically challenged. He is only 3 ft tall, said some old men. The deaf Iyer next door had a different take. “He is as elusive as a rat,” he said More...

Comments (4)

Dear Bala, Wake up!

You can’t question the absence of cohesion or symmetry in a work of art. I mean it’s art! If you considered movie making an art, then you can’t ask Bala, the director of Avan Ivan, the following questions: 1) Why some of the scenes/sub-plots in Avan Ivan are gratuitous 2) Why the humour is constipated and laborious and 3) And why oh why, Bala, you fall into the trappings of Kollywood: get Surya to do a cameo and in return you promote his NGO in the movie?

I am not going to review the movie here. I am sure there are many reviews out there, that’ll state the obvious and deliver a verdict. I am going to go deeper.

As an amateur writer, I have understood that in a movie… a story, time is of essence. But in Avan More...

Comments (4)

Notionink Adam User Survey: Or How NI Refuses to Learn

I saw on http://www.notioninkfan.com/ a link to a survey. Adam developers want feedback from Adam users and they created that survey.

I immediately thought ‘Why isn’t this featured on Notionink’s official website?’ People at NotionInk Hacks forums too expressed similar sentiments.

So I told myself “Come on! Don’t be a prick. Take the survey, help them make Adam better.” And I clicked on the survey link. I was glad that the NotionInk team was doing this: collecting user feedback. But my happiness lasted only until the survey questions appeared on my screen.

Either NI doesn’t care about this survey or there has been some colossal misunderstanding on what amounts to an effective survey.

Now for some gems (these are actual questions) from the survey:

  1. Prioritize your activities using a PC/Laptop (Range: very likely – very

More...

Comments (4)

Dabur Partha and the Tusker (part 2 of 2)

Continued from part 1

My feet refused to move. It was as if my legs had a mind of their own, and they hated me. A wave of dust blew right through me. I rubbed my eyes and opened them to the captain of the Srinagar colony team alighting from his car like a Telugu movie hero: he gave a nonchalant kick to the door to close it, adjusted his Royban shades, surveyed the surroundings, and finally stood in front of me and cleared his throat. As if I was blind and didn’t notice this colossal personality. My legs were shaking and I wanted him to not see my fear. It was important to let the opponent know that I wasn’t scared. I wanted to tell him “I had nothing to do with it. You may want to talk More...

Comments (0)
Go to Top