The phrase in the title is really full of pun,although not really fun!
I was wondering if the phrase meant either of these :
1)The serials on U.S primetime TV which have become killers!The height of irritation is the stupid reality TV shows springing up every season in primetime TV!Some of them are very pathetic and I just don't know how the actors in it even stoop to this level..
These serials are definitely killers!
I am not even thinking of talking about Indian TV serials..They are like concentration camps!Mass killings in the name of Metti Oli and chithis...

2)The second meaning to the phrase pertains to all the killers and rapists shown daily in the TV news or newspapar - Did these guys get the name Serial killers because they were inspired from the TV serials?
Why I say this is,I find atleast one TV Show daily in one channel or the other related to crimes/serial killings and investigation!The weird thing about these is that ,in the pretext of exposing the crimes and revealing interesting,thrilling plots,these serials themself give a million ideas to the average Joe to use the techniques adeptly or improvise on them when he wants to take revenge on someone.
I am wondering if this killer mania has caught on to Indian televisions or not yet?

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

Theres this CWC - CLUE WRITING CONTEST in our cryptic crossword yahoogroup,which I am glad helps me spend a large part of my ,if not boring evenings..
The latest CWC has the word 'TRAIN' to be clued...

I am reminded of the days while at college,when almost every word that I used to come across,I would twist n turn them to see if they could have a meaningful anagram!Gone are those wonderful days!!
But theres still scope for occasional fun!
Heres some of my creations(not all of them might be perfect in terms of crossword syntax)..

Main clue:
Stunning Katrina leaves a key part of gown behind(5)

Katrina leaves a key = katrina - ak = trina
stunning(anagram indicator)
part of gown behind = train

Bonus entries :

Aishwarya in tamilnadu for Mumbai express?(5) T(rai)N

Coach Indian railway worker about it(5) IR+ant anagram

Jerry in running coach?(5)rat+in anagram

Coach recollects panini art(5)pani(ni art).... reverses

Caravan on trail having starting problem?(5) trail - t = caravan on rail = train; caravan = train

Conveyance like car or van,reportedly(5) car or van ~ caravan = train

The initial rain of thoughts(5) T+rain

What protesting anti-roadways chief used to commute?(5)anti+R anagram

AOL leaves confusing rational series of messages(5) rational - AOL and anagram;series = train

Alternation leaves thread starter alone confused(5) alternation - T - alone anagram;alternation = train

Transit running out of 40% steam derails(5)transit - st(40% steam) anagram ;refers to trains running partly on steam;also getting depleted of fuel leading to derailment.

World's largest employer ran it madly(5)ran it - anagram

No story in transitory,confused series of thoughts(5)transitory -story - anagram

Its no street transit unfortunately(5)transit-st anagram

discover Pataliputra in the palace on wheels(5) patalipu(tra in);discover - telescopic indicator?

4 from both sides leave entertainment organisation to teach(5) ente(rtain)ment - ente,ment = rtain organisation - anagram indicator

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

We all know what a Haiku means..
A short poem which conveys a lot of emotions..

On the same lines,in the blog world,I would like to come with the word 'Jikku',referring to any short write-up spanning a couple of lines,which conveys much more than one can fathom.
Want to read some excellent mind-boggling examples?
Go to ammani's page

Heres one such attempt from me..

'She once wrote a 1000 word essay,but intentionally left the ending abruptly to the reader's imagination.Nobody liked it and called it a shit story!
Later just a 2 line write-up,which due to lack of time/motivation, was unintentionally left abruptly.But those few words were packed with a million emotions and the rest is history..rather Herstory!'

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

Posted by rajesh |

Disclaimer:This aint a review of the movie,which talks about the story/music/screenplay or direction.Theres those million other blogs which have done a better task in that sphere.This is my instant thoughts after watching it.

-It was a decent movie...

-Anyday better than Cmukhi or Mum-Express..

-Shankar movies are starting to take a toll on the eyes..The song picturisation is all good..But the camera shaking technique ..habba thala valii varathu paathaalae..

-Liked andankaaka konda kaari..The irony was..Padam fullaa..they showed Vikram with the 'Kondai'!The song shud have been andankaaka kondai kaaran!

-The heroine - Sadhaa..I dont really know what was so special about her!Any average looking girl would have done her role much better!

-Vikram did a good job mostly!The Remo part seemed to be over-acting,particularly oft-repeated lines -Remo maen...Ramp walk/Model etc..

-Unrealistic fight sequences have started creeping into the tamil movies,making them look like cartoon strips and succeeding in bringing down the tempo of the movie.

-I saw some reviews where people had questioned Shankar's favoritism towards the Brahmin community in his movies..

-Thats actually a sham..Shankar,in almost all movies shows Brahmins as 'thayir saadham' eating cowardly souls and then when he comes out as anyone other than a Brahmin,the world is saved!Hypocritic B'tard who probably was under the tutilage of Bagyaraj!

-The advantages that he has in having a brahmin based theme as part of his movie is...
- Gets to show the adorable,colourful agraharam neighborhood brimming with simple yet breathtaking visuals...
- Gets to show 'Ombodhu gajam clad Maamis' in almost every scene for the sake of the drooling front benchers...
- Exploits the unadulterated brahmin lingo to his favor in coming up with the so-called jokes!
- Succeeds in making a cheap attack,albeit being indirect on the Brahmins.

-Taking a tangent from the movie,I wonder what would happen if a reference to 'barbers'/'suudhraa'/'parayan' were to be made in a movie.I am sure Anniyan would be there to kill the director!

-Finally,the last thing I expect is someone misinterpreting the whole post and generously showering me and my kith n kin with mellifluous abuses,speaking of which,I have a question - Are the current censor board members deaf or drugged to such a level that they turn a deaf ear to explicitly and loudly uttered 'baad' words nowadays?

Anyways getting back to the post!

Occasional portrayal of a particular sect to form an indispensable part of the movie theme can be accepted,but a repeated and relentless targetting of the same sect in each and every other movie is disgusting!This,I don't say just because I belong to the Brahmin community.For that matter,I would have felt disgusted if all the movies started showing the autodrivers/the barbers or any other particular group of people in bad light!

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

Disclaimer:I am not trying to be a moron here.Jus whatever I feel on the issue..
There are 3 reasons for this post..
1)I have been tagged by 2 bloggers to come out with my experiences with books and I need to respect their efforts and salute them for the same.
2)I have a confession to make regarding the whole book reading habit.
3)What I feel of this sudden craze in the suddenly over-populated world of blogs..

1)Thanks to Dumbs and Deepa for picking me and being interested to know my likes when it comes to book reading.I sincerely salute thee for the same,but I am sorry to disappoint you.

2)The confession I have to make is...I am not an avid book reader,rather leave the avid part;I am not even an occasional reader!
Somehow I get intimidated when I see those 200 or 300 pages tomes and never have had the courage to sit through the gruelling phase of reading them through.
The last few books that I remember reading cover to cover were the tintin/tinkle back in the high school days,not to forget the compulsory read of non-detailed texts,again during high school!
I do remember reading a few sydney sheldon novels when at college,but really wasn't that interested in them that I don't even remember their names now.


3)Meme and Tags..'Frankly Honey..I don't give a damn'
hmm..just a sudden gush of wind which surprisingly is taking the blog world by storm!But then the sudden glut of these tags makes the blogs of the current weeks very boring!Seriously I don't give a damn as to what another blogger likes to read or what 3 things another blogger likes to eat or what 3 movies another blogger likes to watch and the least important thing is the 3 names that he or she is called as!
It reminds me of those 'Lord Venkateshwara Blessing forwards' which cluttered the network unnecessarily.The same goes with the current series of tags and meme blogs!
So,I refuse to pass on this tag or meme!

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

Oru blogicae illaama pesaadhe...thundered Kavitha with a giggle hinting that she didn't believe what her hubby Sri had just uttered...

Yeah,that had become the event of the decade,when Sri had done something that had never been attempted in the history of blogging.He had managed to leverage the full potential of the world of blogs and its diehard fans,when he proposed to Kavitha through a posting on his blog,seeking the blogger junta to vote on his webiste and thereby cajole Kavitha into accepting his proposal.That post created enough havoc in the online world that CNN and google news websites carried their matrimony as a headline news.

It was their first year anniversary and that was the setting which created the Im'blog'lio leading to Kavitha shouting..
'Oru Blogicae illaamae pesaadhe...'

Kavi had passionately asked Sri,
'Deii..Purushangaara..What gift do you want from me for out first anniv huh??'

Sri latched on to the opportunity and burst out..
"You need to STOP BLOGGING!"
'No ..I am not kidding Kavi..'If there is something that is within your scope of offering me and if you are thinking of a gift for our anniversary,it should be it - You need to STOP BLOGGING!

Kavi stared at Sri with a frozen smile which slowly faded into a sad face as she slowly said..'Whaaaat??You are kidding right?'

The very basis for their union,which was Sri's sincere admiration for Kavitha's style of writing and thoughts about life,had slowly started to take a toll on their relationship.

Sri began his short lecture which lead into a heated argument later...
'See..Kavi..I agree I liked you for your frankness and candid expression of your thoughts on anything and everything in a common man's life..
But then,I think its gone too far now..'

'What?Come on Sri..Please ..Okay..Give me some instances..' whispered Kavi..

'Instances???Oh cmon Kavi..which one do I say??
Okay..lets start with your last week's blog - Blogainvillea-The flowers in my Garden called Life'

'What about that?I thought it was a nice write-up..Do you know I got 156 comments for that?'

'Oh cmon..156 comments? hahahaa....If it is a female blogger,anyone and everyone comments.Stupid workless people..They just comment without even reading the blog.All those drooling jollu idiots...I hate those guys..
Anyways now coming to the point..That post which started as a description of our family members slowly branched into too much details and What was that cheeky joke about my mom being a strict Mother-in-law??huh??'

Upon hearing Sri's words about her blog's comments,Kavi automatically started crying and the rest of the lecture didn't even strike her as she blurted..

'Sorry da Sri..I never knew it hurt you this much..'

'Oh who needs your sorry??
I had liked you when you frankly admitted that you had a love affair before and that your families opposed it leading to the break-up..
But then,repeatedly blogging about your past lover..Thats disgusting you know?
I sometimes get a doubt..Have you really forgotten him or not?What are trying to say with those blogs??They are 'diablogical' in your style of high fundae speaking!!


'Oh..I was just trying to rest my past and go forward.They were just a reflection of my old memories.Cmon..Please don't continue..I can't stand it.'

'No..Since I have started speaking about it.let me finish it..
The next door neighbour..That stupid voyeur geeky computer guy..He had the audacity to ask me about that funny incident on our honeymoon..

The mini-Walmart cashier joked at me for adding salt instead of sugar in coffee yesterday..

and one of my colleagues..You know he joked about the number of times we had sex last week?'

Oh this is ridiculous..There are certain things that need to stay indoors..There is more to life than just blogs and those sweet comments!
You got to understand it!

'Okay..I get it..forget it..I went overboard with the virtual world of blogs..I just need you..I promise ..No more Blogarithms or diablogues or anything associated with Blogs okay?'

'Okay..Sorry da chellam...lets forget this whole diablogue Okay;)' quipped Sri as he logged into his blog to write about the new Casio Keyboard that had hit the market!

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

'And the best National Blog award in the family category goes to Kavitha Vasudevan'..blared the speakers of the Anna auditorium followed by a huge applause for the
'The best National Blog award for Technical writing to Sriram Sreenivasan'
It was the year 2010, that Kavitha and Sri had been catapulted to National fame due to the Govt recognised awards that they had been endowed with.
The next day,the newspapers went crazy about their profile,the online magazines had all details about them spanning from the hospital that they were born, to their education to their professional activities to the cars that they had bought from their adsense earnings,not to forget the millions of bloggers who literally devoted their entire webspace for the next few weeks to felicitate their role models.

Bloggers Meets,Bloggers net conference,Bloggers Marathon,Bloggers Charity Cricket Match and what not..These were some of the activities that became a common occurance almost every week in the major metros and Kavitha and Sri had been active participants in many of these at Chennai and Bangalore respectively.

It was one such meet called 'Blognoscenti - Appreciate the world of Blogs',that was held at 'The Amethyst' cafe at Chennai that both of them met for the first time.
As commonly observed in the blogging community,there was no element of shyness or reservation amongst the both of them,as they endlessly poured their appreciation for each other's blog,completely oblivious of the 'special speaker' on the dias - Director Maniratnam,who was detailing how his life in movie making had changed after he had started blogging and had started making movies with inputs from millions of his sharp and erudite blog-watchers.

Kavitha went on and on for minutes together heaping praise over each and every blog piece that Sri had written in the past few weeks...

'Hey,ur write up on the Cell chip from Sony..That was brilliant.Really put my doubts about whether to buy that or the '8 core multi-processor' chip from AMD..'
'And then,your detailed description of how the GPS mechanism works..God..I swear I had been using that stuff in my car for 5 yrs now and had no clue about how it showed me the location and maps instantaneously..Thanks Sri'

And as she queued up her next lavish praise for Sri,he interupted...

"Oh..Come on Kavi..Dont try to be soo modest here..
Your are a much better writer than me.No doubt about that..The number of comments that even a single liner entry in your blog garners..I can't match that even if I were to write a masterpiece!!
Also,I just try to breathe life into lifeless things such as the IPOD or the Googleon searcher,but then you are the one who breathes life into everyday life's happenings.
Your blogs are the only ones,that I take time in the early morning to read it all in one sitting..You know I have most of them fresh in my mind..
-Blogistics - A peek into a blogger's family business and some of the main facilitators'
-Bloggrammers - A bite into the lives of the bits and bytes junta'
-Eublogy - The smile from an encoraging blog comment'
Wow..Kavitha..The titles that you give to them are the thrilling starters to those few minutes of realisation about mundane activities that most of the times get unnoticed,if not for you..
How do you come up with such wonderful titles and exciting write-ups detailing every aspect of the current day happenings in life?

Suddenly they heard a thunderous applause marking the end of Mani Sir's speech,which meant it was time for them to leave!

'Hey..Next week at the Sheraton Saturday evening event.Ok?
'which one?''Catablogue - Advertisement through Blogs' seminar at 7 p.m ??
'Yeah..thats it..

To be concluded..
-Raapi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted by rajesh |

When he got married to her,she looked liked Zeenat Amman..
A few years later,she still remains almost the same..
A small change..Now,She reminds him of just 'Amman'!

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

A look at the gorgeous Vidya Balan brought a few thoughts instantaneously...

1)Is it me or is it the same with everyone?Why does Vidya Balan,the heroine of the latest movie - Parineeta,remind me of the good old high school science teacher or the arts and craft teacher - 'Neeta Madam'??
Not that I din't like those smart and sexy ladies :)..In fact the entire class ogled all day at them for their freshness and beauty!

2)Wow..That sharp and tall nose is unique..!Nose tall?..Ji haan!
If Saif and her were to marry and have a kid,I bet the kid would have the longest nose on earth!! :)

3)A piece of alpa sandhosham..Shes a Palakaadu Iyer :)..Namma ooru ponnunga range ae vera!!
She says to Rediff
"I am a Tamilian from Kerala. I come from Palghat, on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. I am from the Iyer community."

4)Things you didn't know about thalaivi

Finally,a hearty welcome to Vidya Balan into the tinsel world!Looking forward to Parineeta and 'Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi' (still in production)

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

I have 2 cousins,who completed their final year of schooling this year.The difference between them is 1 of them finished his '12th standard' while the other completed his '12th Grade'!
I observed the commosion and jamboree that the 2 different events have created in my family and found it pretty interesting!

As if a perfectly conjured up scenario,the first guy H belongs to my mom's side,which is a very conservative family and still follows the rules of the Brahministic way of life religiously and has literally no representation in the U.S,except me.The other guy R belongs to my dad's side,which WAS once a conservative family and oflate seems to be hellbent on religiously not following any customs or traditions,with most of its members paying visits to the U.S as it was at a stone's throw.

Both these cousins are pretty shrewd guys,unlike yours truly,but then the real point I wanted to make is the contrasting scenarios they had to go through.

The H study Scenario :
H studied at the Boiler Plant high school in Trichy and as every other 12th std student of his times,his whole year was devoted to tuition classes/coachin classes/entrance classes and an occasional glimmer of fun that he got daily from watching 1/2 an hr of 'Metti Oli' during dinner.Thank God they didn't have Moral science as a subject lest his mom would have squeezed his time-table to accomodate a tuition time for that too.I was completely amazed,when I came to know that he had a tuition class for 'French - his second language' at 4.30 a.m 3 days a week!Holly Molly...French at 4.30a.m??I would rather bang my head against the wall and save my brain of the misery!
My uncle and aunt were typical brahmin parents forcing their unfulfilled childhood wishes into the guy's minds right from his very early age.What I am talking about is their perseverance and conviction to making sure thier kid would become a doctor or an engineer;the latter compulsory ought to be from a premier Engineering college!

I heard that my cousin gave his Board exams and million other entrance exams,on the hopes of becoming a doctor!

The R study Scenario :
R studied at the Kentucky junior High school at Lexington and as every other 12th grade student of his times,his whole year was devoted to Basketball games/baseball games/Literary and debate activities and an occasional special class for SAT exams that was somehow squeezed into his time-table.I happened to visit my uncle's place last year and was amazed to find my cousin's room all redesigned as per his likes,with a huge 'Michael Jordan portrait' and a 'Shaq O neal' memorablia nicely arranged on the walls.And there was the special Gym that had been created at the basement,some of whose peraphernalia I have not even seen in my apartment Gym!
My uncle and aunt were ABCD parents,showering their kid with everything that they had never got during their childhood and had left the option of choosing his career to my cousin's wishes,with a light dose of cajoling to take up a Medical line,even if it required them to bring down one of their bank balances!

I heard that my cousin took his SAT once or twice and was even gieven a chance to take it up again.

The final countdown!
My Indian cousin got his results and as I had expected the overdose of studying and unnecessarily devotion of time to coaching classes had taken a toll and it turned out that his Board exams results albiet being 1139/1200 were not upto the hype that had been created in our family circles.His entrance exams results weren't splendid either,the blame neated tucked on to the coaching centre.
And finally the reality is..he is going to join Amrutha College under the college's so-called merit category which has a tuition fee of 70000rs/yr with hostel n food expenses bringing it to a lac/yr!

My ABCD cousin,am not sure,if there was any element of results from his schooling.What I got was an invitation for his graduation from school and a special invite to the party that was to follow later in a private hall for all our family members!He is all fired up to do his undergrad at the Univ of Michigan!I didn't dare to ask if it was a free seat or a payment seat or a management seat :)!
I attended his graduation party and was bewildered to find the way the graduating kids of his school were treated as if they had saved the world and were literally boosted with enough praises that could fuel a few years of their sagging confidence!
The surprise element of the family party that followed was the 50k$ Lexus GS300 car that my uncle presented to R for graduating!

Upon watching all this happening,I was put into deep thoughts...2 similar families..2 similar kids..both of them my cousins..What a completely different scheme of things happening in their lives!One being treated like a dog while the other not less than God!


-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

Recently overheard...

'Machiii..treat kudraaa'

'Enna !@#!#!@#ruku treat??'

'hmmm...deii..ennadaa ipdi kaetuta?'

'Ada..podaa naanae ennoda Paati poitaanga nu sogathla irkaen..'

'Ada vetti payalae..adhuku thaan daa treat kaetaen'

'O@#$$..Ennadaa paethara?'

'Illadaa..Paati was a great lady..avanga nyabagaarthamaa..nee ethaanum pannanum daa..adhaan konjam chillax panlaamae nu..Ippo avanga uyiroda irundhaa..ipdiyaa unna sogamaa paaka virumbuvaanga??'

'Hmm..adhu seri'

'Also..main matterae..Paati odu Gramathu Bungalaw unaku vandhurchu laa;)?'

'Adapaavii..Adapaaviingala..Treat kaeka munnaadi full statistics/history therinju vechurkaengalae..ozhinju poanga..Vaanga polaam 6th street Bar ku..
By the way,naa car vaanginapodhu enna @#@#$ ku treat kudthaen naa??'

-Rajesh

Posted by rajesh |

Then..
She-ela : 'Oh stupid fellow..I know U like me..n u r trying to impress me..But then I was already impressed when I first met you..
But then what if my thot process is all wrong??..So..lemme wait'

He-manth : 'Oh my dearest bestest friendy..I am not sure if U know this..but I really dont have the guts to let you know this..On hindsight I don wanna lose ur friendship..So..lemme hold on.'

Now..
She-ela : Visiting Dr.Hinsley Jebakumar for her first trimester/second trimester examination results at a private child health centre in Trichy....

He-manth : Visiting Dr.Edwin Wattson for his first semester/second semester examination results at the Univ of Austin doctoral research centre....

And life just goes on..
-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |