Shivaji fever - fervor

I still remember the day I watched Gentleman, standing in a long queue. From that day, I had watched all of Shankar's movies till 'Shivaji' in theatre. The one thing which has not changed yet. It is the long queue. Every time I go to his movie with a skeptical feeling of "Will he be able to live up to the expectation of his previous film?" "What new interesting things he would have in this movie?" But till now, he has not failed, at-least not me.

Song picturization is always a treat to eyes in his movies. And, he knows the knack of blending CG, seamlessly. It is worth mentioning the effects made in 'Sun light' song. I was literally shocked seeing the first frame of the song. "Something is different. Oh man! Rajini was turned into british color. Oh! even his lips. Great Job". Shankar, the gentle man's obsession with glass in form of bus takes a new level in 'Shahana' song. The Geometrical figures with Green house like bang-low made me greedier than Midas. Shankar always loves grandiosity and wants to bring it in each song. But, you need a good theme to make an impression. "What else can be a good theme than a 'King's Ordeal'?" He succeeded with that in Indian(Maya), Jeans (Anbe) and Mudhalvan (Mudhalvane). He did it with 'Vaji' song once again. It wouldn't be complete leaving Shreya. She was steaming hot in that song. I wondered about the highest payment to Vali for his incoherent 'Thee thee' lyrics. But, it all made sense seeing the choreography for it. The music, the style, the theme, vocal etc simply mind blowing.

I never expect story in Super star movies. It is the same candy wrapped in new cover. But who cares? It is all about the entertainment value. Rajini still rules there even without 'Punch dialogues'. I liked the idea behind Vivek making punches. Definitely, this movie raised the bar of expectation for Rajini movies yet to come. I feel the next director has to smack his head with ideas to beat it!!!

Paradise lost? or Regained ?

In a group of six guys, what could be the possible topics of discussions ? Invariably, girls. But fortunately or weirdly we discussed something more hot. During most part of our smokies trip, we discussed about the issues with Israel and Palestine. The group was mixed by level of acquaintance on the subject. we had variety of personalities with - an extremely exposed person as far as the subject was concerned, a person like me with a little bit of knowledge, next one who was completely ignorant but with curiosity to understand and the rest of the folks as silent listeners. The discussion went on and on starting from the formation of Jews and their promised land. And also, about the various invasion and change of power of holy land from Moss's era to Olmert.

There is an old adage saying, " The root cause for any trouble would be over one of land, damsel or gold." I am not sure how much of it was true at that time. But it fits well in the groove of current issues of endless boundary talks, Green or control lines etc. Coming to the part about Palestine, after the discussion, it raised so many questions in me. I did read a lot after that discussion. It came as shocking that Palestine is an not independent country today. Though PLO proclaimed it as an independent state but not all the countries recognize it that way. And also, the chronicle events like Israel declaration of independence on 1948, a year later the war on Israel by the neighboring nations, 20 years later Israel's rebut against the neighbouring nations - explain the eerie life of inmates there. On Jun 5 this month, Israel remembered the historic 6 days fight for paradise regain. But every day bombing and evacuation of Gaza might tell us a different story about the paradise. The major part of Palestine is still under the occupation of Israel military. I am not going to be judgemental about Israel or Palestine of their actions. I know, everything is fair in love and war. Each side has their own explanation and belief. But it is filling my mind with gray clouds just thinking about the life of common people there.

Palestine has so much attention of the world. Till now, there is no amicable settlement for this issue. So What about similar issue going on less visible regions of the world? Be it Kashmir, LTTE etc ? When will the world live in peace for at least a day or even a minute ?

Whitewater rafting

When we see thrill sports like sky diving, skiing, bungee jump etc., we try to visualize our self and feel excited about it. But when it comes to real action, most of us would say, "It ain't that exciting to try ". The same thing happened with couple of members in our group when I proposed the idea of rafting. With great deal of time(?), we convinced them.

We did whitewater rafting in Big Pigeon River, Smokies Mountain. It was roughly a six mile stretch with variety of rapids from Class I to IV. They had names for every rapid. The amicable instructor wanted to make us comfortable during the journey. So he asked for translation of instructions in our language, unaware of the situation that each one of us had their own language. We agreed for commands in Tamil and we taught him three words 'forward', 'backward' and 'Stop'. It was real fun to hear him.

Some of the Class III and IV rapids really shook us bad. But, personally I expected it to be little more rapid and rough than what was present. I guess the water flow was bit lenient. We expected a couple of tumbles into the stream. Our dream went in vain. Nevertheless, It was a very good experience and our understanding about rafting was changed completely.

Home Improvement

Prologue: During college days, I was more passionate about two things - Programming and Computer Aided Design. When I was working with soft-wares like PRO-E,Auto-CAD etc, I searched for opportunities to use 3D modelling beyond bolt, carburetor designs. I found one interesting area where it can be used extensively - 'house planning'. I decided to build 3D model before in hand using tools whenever I am ready to build my own house.

3D Design:

Front View of my proposed house.

Cut down top Angle view of First Floor

First floor hall and lobby space.

(can you see the reflection on the marbles?)

Combined ground and first floor hall.

Hall and Kitchen from Dining space.

Now, I am all excited to see the real one and compare with my model. And then, I have to boast around saying " See. It just looks exactly same as my 3D model". It is just that I have to spend over 20 lacs :-(

Note: this 3D model is developed using application called "Cheetah 3D". It took sometime to understand features. I believe it was worth that effort.

More photos:->