Let me say this upfront, Vairamuthu is a decent lyricist with no discernible literary merit. His absolute pretentiousness in projecting himself as the heir of Jeyakanthan, his laughable attempts at lobbying for awards apart, he is a sexist, uncouth, opportunistic, lowlife who has gone around harassing and exploiting girls and women using his position of …
Category: Non Fiction
பாரதி – காலத்தை வென்றவன்
(காலத்தை வென்றவன் என்ற தலைப்பில் பாரதியின் 99-ஆவது வருட நினைவு தினத்தன்று (11.09.2020) கொல்கத்தா பாரதி தமிழ் சங்கத்திற்காக இணைய வழியில் நான் ஆற்றிய உரையின் கட்டுரை வடிவம். உரையின் பொழுது பாடல்கள் சிலவற்றைப் பாடினேன், அது இங்கில்லை. தொழில்நுட்பக் கோளாறினால் உரையில் பாதி பதிவாகவில்லை, ஆகவே இங்கு முழுமையாக அளித்துள்ளேன்.) அனைவருக்கும் வணக்கம். காலத்தை வென்றவன் என்ற தலைப்பில் உள்ள முரண் நான் சொல்லித் தெரிய வேண்டியதில்லை."நெருநல் உளனொருவன் இன்றில்லை என்னும் பெருமை உடைத்து இவ்வுலகு" …
Dil bechara – Sugar Rush
Friendzone – A R Rahman Friendzone is a simple song, a song to impress a woman, with enough corn and cheese to help you safely tread the pandemic. ARR has been impressing us with his singing across genres and moods– From Arabic Kadaloram (Bombay) to New York nagaram (Sillendru oru Kadhal), from Tere Bina (Guru) to Ye jo des (Swades), from Aise na dekho(Ranjhna) to Theera …
Joy = Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s Music
By now I am a Sanjay fanatic. I go to his concerts expecting to be moved, floored and stunned. Yes, people keep shifting, the aunty behind me wouldn’t stop humming, the uncle next to me would pick an international call, the young man would yell the words of a keerthanai after an exposition of ragam and taanam — I mean, hello? It is …
Objet d’art
Places are people to me. I vehemently assured a friend of my knowledge of Mumbai, because I had listened to 'Piya Haji Ali' (Fiza, A.R.Rahman) and Marine drive can just wait. Don’t mistake me for claiming prior knowledge of Mysuru for I have read R.K.Narayan. It is amusing that my mind didn’t associate the Kannada …
Tanjoring
I made a quasi-official visit to Thanjavur (not Tanjore) last week. Being an obsessive compulsive never-return-home-unless-you-really-have-to-when-you-are-already-out kind of a person I ventured to visit the famed Sarasvati Mahal library. I decided to skip Brahadeeswara temple for two reasons - one, I have visited it multiple times over the years and two, I’d recently been bamboozled …
Caste in my living room – 5
Margazhi Special - Caste and Carnatic Music. As a part of the “caste in my living room” series, an acquaintance suggested I wrote on the issue of identity. The first word that came to my mind as I heard that word was, not pride or privilege, but, “art.” Art, some say, is an excess, a …
Caste in my living room – 4
This post is in response to I AM~~ME’s comment to the last post:I AM~~ME’s comment: This series provokes serious thoughts on the very many beliefs held by the majority. I guess there is no single answer. Just like how you had your moment of realization on meeting a first gen grad, everyone at some point in …
Caste in my living room – 3
In my last post, I had raised a few questions for the readers' consideration. In their attempt to answer the questions, a reader had posed a volley of counter questions - "Don't they do it? The other castes? Don't Dalits ask for reservation in the name of caste? Don't they seek protection in the name of …
Caste in my living room – 2
When I began with the series on casteism, I expected it to go unnoticed, like many other posts in the blog. A handful have read through the post, which is fantastic, and they'd taken the effort to convey their views to me personally, which is even better. I have been speaking on this issue for …
Skylit 