Sutum Vizhi from Mahakavi Bharathi...

          I was hearing the song Sutum Vizhi Sudar dhaan, a composition by Mahakavi Bharathiyaar. I was searching for the lyrics and found most links pointing to Suttum Vizhi Sudarae from the Tamil movie Ghajini. The first one is such a lovely song and huge credit to twice Oscar awards winner A.R.Rahman and sung beautifully by famous playback singer Hariharan. My interest however shifted from the music and the voice of the singer to the lyrics. I started wondering how many songs now have such beautiful pure Tamil words. Each word in this song is like a treat to your ears.

         Are our new generation poets and lyricists incapable for writing, or have we exhausted the literary potential of the language. I believe that both my assumptions above are false and it is the audience and need of the society that have caused the change in the lyrics and the songs now. I wanted to analyze the lyrics and have translated them as per my knowledge and took the help of my roommate (Sundar) who is way better in Tamil than many that I know of.

         This song is a description of Mahakavi for his love for Kannamma, his wife's name however is Chellammal. My roommate Sundar told me this is like a nick-name for his wife. So here are the lyrics and my interpretation of the meaning.

1. suttum vizhichchudardhaan kaNNammaa sooriya chandhiraroa
          Suttum or Suterikum mean burning, hot or fire, Vizhi means eyes. So he describe the eyes as powerful. Chudardhaan, Chudar means radiant or bright. sooriya chandhiraroa, meaning are they like the sun and the moon. I feel sun for the burning hot and moon for the one that is radiating and bright.

2. vattak kariyavizhi kaNNammaa vaanak karumai kolloa
           Vattam, means round or circular. Kariyavizhi, means dark, black iris of the eye. vaanak karumai kolloa, means taking the darkness of the night sky, and my roommate's interpretation is that of dark black rain clouds.

3. pattuk karuneelap pudavai padhiththa nal vayiram
           Pattu Karuneela Pudavai, means dark silk blue Saree. Padhiththa nal vairam, means embed or embellish with diamonds, but me and my roommate's interpretation is that the beads in the Saree pallu are shining like real diamonds.

4. nattanadu nisiyil theriyum natchaththirangaLadi
           Nattanadu, means right in the middle or center. nisiyil theriyum, means visible in the sky. NatchaththrangaLadi, means like the stars. We have to take this interpretation from the previous line. So Mahakavi, says that the beads in the dark blue Saree that are shining like real diamonds look like stars or constellations in the dark night sky.

5. soalai malaroLiyoa unadhu sundharap punnagaidhaan
           Solai Malar, means beautiful flower but the interpretation can be multiple. Let me walk you through all of them. oLiyo, mean light here. unadhu, means yours.  sundharap punnagaidhaan, means beautiful smile, punnagai means smile.
          My roommate's interpretation is, the beautiful smile of yours is like the blooming of the sunflower during sunrise (Amazing!).

6. neelak kadalalaiyae unadhu nenjin alaigaLadi
           Neela Kadalalaiyae, meaning the blue sea or ocean. nenjin alaigaLadi, means waves of your heart. The interpretation that we agreed in general is, the sound of the waves in the blue sea or ocean is that of the sound of your heartbeat.

7. koalak kuyiloasai unadhu kuralin inimaiyadi
           Koalak kuyiloasai, means the sound of the cuckoo bird in the forest. unadhu kuralin inimaiyadi, means the sweetness of your voice. So the sweetness in your voice is like the sound made by the forest cuckoo bird.

8. vaalaik kumariyadi kaNNammaa maruvak kaadhal koNdaen  
           As per the input from my roommate, Vaalaikumari, means young lady. Maruva kaadhal koNdaen, means I have deeply, helplessly fallen in love with you. I am not sure here if he describes his wife here, because i asked my roommate that if Mahakavi Bharathi was describing his wife, why would he use the word vaalaikumari. She is married and how can she be described kumari. The interpretation is how he see her before marriage as a vaalai kumari. Please note that Mahakavi was married at a very young age and he feels that his wife is still a young lady even after marriage.

9. saaththiram paesugiRaay kaNNamaa saaththiram aedhukkadi  
            Saaththiram pesugiRaay, meaning speaking rules and customs.  saaththiram aedhukkadi, means why rules and customs. I think he is trying to talk his wife that for love there are no rules and customs and why talk about them now (Purely imaginative and my interpretation).

10. aaththiram kondavarkkae kaNNamaa saaththiram uNdoadi
           Aaththiram kondavarkkae, meaning people who are hasty and angry.  saaththiram uNdoadi, meaning they need the rules and customs. I have no clue why this line but it may be to say that for a person who comes to you for love why impose rules and customs on him, it is for one who comes to you with anger.

11. mooththavar sammadhiyil vadhuvai muRaigaL pinbu seyvoam
           It kind of gets tough here, mooththavar sammadhiyil, meaning in the presence of and with the permission of elders. vadhuvai muRaigaL, vadhuvai means proposal for marriage, muRaigaL is customs. So Mahakavi means the customs related to engagement and marriage. pinbu seyvoam, meaning will do them later. Hmm... my interpretation could be, for love between two people you don't need the convention and custom of marriage and engagement. Let us postpone all the customs of engagement and marriage in the elders presence. (Lovely!)

12. kaaththiruppaenoadi idhu paar kannaththu muththam onRu
             kaaththiruppaenoadi, meaning will i be waiting for. idhu paar, meaning to look for. kannaththu muththam onRu, meaning a kiss on the cheek. In this line I feel he shows his love as a kiss on the cheek. Amazing amazing. I am left with few words now to describe this.

         I have now shared the video below for those who do not know Tamil and have not heard the song before . Even if you don't want to read through the post you will surely like the song. Your comments and any alternate interpretations are welcome.

Creativity and Freedom in US schools

          I think most of you studying in the US will agree to this post and all those who do not, please go back to your Engineering days in India and tell me how many such creative work did you see? Studying at RIT has been a great Ordeal, The quarter system, grading policy and courses here are tough enough for one to breathe. Fortunately I am not going to talk about all that, I happen to see a video today and it was created by students at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Ice hockey here is like cricket back in India. The RIT men team is leading the division and they are a very competitive side. The women hockey team on the other hand and unbeaten this year. They are one step ahead of the men team. I have watched a few matches now and its really a great game to watch and learn. It gets even better if the team you support is leading the points board.

         This post is not about RIT hockey team and the matches I have watched till now. Its about the students who are ardent fans of the RIT hockey team, who have created this amazing video. I really appreciate the effort that the students have put in creating this video. The first thought that came to my mind is; why didn't we do something like this during engineering days? Then I remembered that we did create one but did not post or publish it because the department was strict. For even small issues they would ask for the permission of the department head. Students in India are highly creative, its the problem with the universities and their policies. Games and extra curricular activities are never promoted, even if they do there are 1001 clauses to it. After four years of engineering we have a huge herd of people with loads of bookish knowledge and low on confidence and self belief.

         I like the way universities operate here. Students, staffs, professors everyone has equal freedom to express themselves without crossing any line. Ideas are shared and heard to, and people do implement them with due diligence.  The first video is the Lip Dub created by the students of RIT for the song "Eye of the Tiger". The RIT men team are called Tigers, the mascot for the team is Tiger (should i say Royal Bengal Tiger). The mascot's name is Ritchie, he gives away free Tiger T-shirts during the game.  The next video is of the Corner Crew, group of students who cheer the RIT Tigers during the game. I feel they end up pulling down the opponents more. Its great fun to watch the corner crew in action and the way they spice up the game. And I must also mention the band that plays during the games. Its an amazing ambiance and an electrifying environment to watch the game.

          All this makes me feel that universities back home must start focusing on things other than just studies. Universities are not factories manufacturing engineers for market outside. Education is a platform for learning, growth and at the same time some fun for students. Your comments are welcome, please watch the videos and have fun!

Eye of the Tiger

RIT Corner Crew

Karma! Life after Death

       I was having a casual conversation with my maternal uncle and the topic then turned philosophical and religious. Yeah, its about Karma, life, death and all related stuff. I don't want to bore people reading this post with huge Sanskrit text and scare the soul out you, but on the other hand bring out my thoughts on them.

       The first question is, Do we really have a life after death? Do we really travel to Swargam (Heaven) or Naragam (Hell)? I personally do not believe so, for 2 reasons. One, it is only the body that can feel pain, joy, envy, lust etc. The Aathma is just an energy descended from or part of a supreme energy (Let me not say it as GOD). Two, if there is Karma then it is pre-written and the decider has decided it for me. How can i be punished for something i did not decide or intend in happening?

       So in simple terms if i were to perform an act, it is part of my Karma and i cannot avoid it. The Hell and Heaven according to me are terms used to scare people and correct their actions. It is purely a way to keep the society in order. So going with that flow, Hell, Heaven and many other conventions are not the word of GOD. It is purely from the mouth of a mortal human being. I am not an atheist, but isn't it bad to curb ones action with the sole intent of scaring him/her with Life after Death.

      Many great people are renowned and even worshiped today because they disagreed to be stereotyped and broke these shackles that society enforced on them. So do what you feel like doing, and not worry if your actions will lead you to Hell or Heaven.

P.S. - I just realized  that many words have moved from Sanskrit to English e.g. Karma, Mantra, Nirvana etc while writing this post.

We have exhausted the IP addresses!

The morning news has never been exciting and fun. Especially with what is happening in Egypt, the corruption rackets in India and the plight of Indian students in America (including me!). There was one news that was not only interesting but also made me read and ponder over it.

We have exhausted the IP addresses for internet usage. IP as most of know stands for Internet Protocol address. This is like the mobile number we use, come to think of it will we run out of mobile numbers too. Ok that will be an other post (lol!). The IP address is used to identify and locate a machine that is using the internet. The great news is, its not end of world. People are now working on Internet Protocol version 6, but it is still a major event in one's life. Its like the Y2K issue, proud to say we were there during the tough times. Do make a note of February 03 2011 in you calendar.

The reason for this issue is that people who designed this concept never thought that they would even run out of IP addresses. They had a maximum of 4.1 billion IP addresses. The major culprit are mobile phones, smart phones, Ipads, Itouch devices etc. The only message from me is "Hold on to your IP address, If you didn't it will be tough to get one!"

For More News Read - Wiki on IP address exhaustion

MayBach back to India

During 2004 I was chatting with my friend at work. It was a casual discussion on the current trends and happenings in the country. Starting from politics to fuel prices, and that is when I heard the word Maybach (I first thought Mayback!). We all must have heard of Mercedes Benz, Daimler Chrysler etc.

Maybach is in the luxury car segment, should I say "super luxury". The car then would cost close to INR 5,00,00,000.00 (A lot of zeroes in there...). I assume that the cost of the car is excluding taxes. These cars were booked even before they came to the market. I still cannot imagine that how can one spend so much on a car in India. This also gives us the idea of the purchasing power of a selective few Indian Citizens. The other big question in my mind is, where will he/she drive this car?

Now Maybach is back in India, they are launching a new vehicle (News from NDTV) and I assume people will again pile up their orders. Ours will be the only country where we can see cycles worth Rs 500 and cars worth 5 crores on the same road. GOD bless India!

Images - Courtesy Google