Tamil is my mother tongue, But I cant write the language. I can read it, though only if I have to. My Hindi reading skills are supposedly better. I have read Kabir’s Dohas and short stories by Hindi writers. I do actually understand them.

I never wanted to learn Tamil in school. Simple reason I was not going to get value addition because of it. I studied french so I could show off to girls in other schools by asking “Parlez vous Francais?” With Tamil all I could do was read some awesome literature which is among the best in the world. But which girl wants to talk to a Tamil speaking guy. Had I studied Tamil and had I described to a girl how beautiful she is in Tamil she would have given me a weird look and moved on to the guy with the fake fucked up accent.

Anyways I was wondering about how the government has forced people to have company name boards in Tamil also in view of the World Classical Tamil conference happening in Coimbatore. If your name board does not have Tamil there then down it goes or you better cover up the board because English or any other language in which your company board is written is a dirty language. It is a language that the illiterate can’t understand. A lot of criticism has been doing the rounds. I say keep it simple. Write it in whatever Language the company feels is appropriate.

I am sure We can display door numbers prominently. I am sure everyone understands numbers. Place the door number for any address prominently with the street address on every house/office. (For us door nos. are a miniscule thing that we put on the pillar adjoining the gate). So once we have the address system right we should not have a problem with the Tamil, English, French, Dutch. You get an address and you find it. It is really very simple. Anyone can find it. you don’t have to be an university educated person. Also display street names prominently in English, Hindi and Tamil at the corner of every street. Please make sure that politicians and film-makers don’t stick their brilliant faces on top of those. Now all that would make life easy right. Instead of going around bullying people to bring down what they have spent money on.

And for God’s sake Chamiers Road is easier to say than Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Salai. I am glad that he was not conferred any honorary doctorates or the road would have had a Dr. in front (BTW I think it is the lengthiest name for a road in Chennai). Just like Greenways road has been renamed Dr. D.G.S. Dinakaran Salai.

Stop imposing people with what they have to do. No one likes it. Especially not us Indians. We will realize what we are missing after a while. Just like I realized that I can hardly read Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki. What a story? I had to read it in English. The Tamil version is supposed to be awesome. I understand it because no one, not even the best English to Tamil translator can do justice to Shakespeare’s works!

Now let me try and read Ponniyin Selvan in the way it was meant to be read. In THAMIZH! Nandhini here I come!!!

Also do read mollamaari thambi’s and jalsa paiyyan’s take on this. Also check out #brandsintamil

And of course please do visit the Ulaga Thamizh Semmozhi Manadu

I thought when one gets married they can move on to the other side of the Altar and then not be horrified with the things that go on in life. But no, horror is part and parcel of life and it is indeed a wonderful thing to watch horror movies

Go on and Enjoy some of the best horror movies to be ever made.

It is time to be horrified

So what if I am busy getting ready to be married to Nandhini. So what if I have told her that I need to sleep tonight. I do need some time out to blog.

Though I am not that great at relationships with anyone (someone told me that I do not fit into society) I do have some thoughts on relationships and here are my 2 pennies.

Men are attracted to Women and vice versa maybe the way you deal with them and the way you relate to them maybe different but bottom line is “Opposites Attract”

Not everyone let’s you be the way you are. You are judged split open and analyzed. It is a given and most people talk about it (mostly behind your back). Some call it gossip some call it girl talk, some call it men talk…

Some are shy and will end up lying to people about the non existent relationships they had with bearded women.

Some will just yap their way to the grave like they have no feelings for anyone. Because “The person who cares less, is the most powerful in a relationship”

Then there are some who are so childish that they have lost track of reality and they live in fantasy land.

But the kind I like most are people who like someone and cant tell it out loud, who when reminded that they like a particular someone they simply blush…

I can’t believe I wrote about relationships. Because I am the kind who does not care about relationships. It is just another word.

If I have picked an example I can assure you that the person is alive and not dead at the time of me writing this. This is not fiction but it is hard facts, unlike my buddy in crime who writes 80% fiction 20% fact.

Here I am finally doing what I used to dread the most… You do see the tense I used in the previous Sentence right Well if you did not it is time to take note. Nope I don’t dread it anymore, in fact I am a little ticked off that it is not happening sooner. Those of you who have known me for a bit will also know that this is the biggest step in my adult life…(Though I did consider passing my College exams a big step…not anymore!!!)

Yes people I am finally marrying this wonderful girl called Nandhini. She is what I am not. Actually… I see the YIN and The YANG right there. Of course I am inviting all my blog readers, twitter pals, Facebook buddies to the reception here in Chennai on Sunday, 22nd November 2009

I will be blogging at “At The Altar” . Jotting down my thoughts and experiences till the day I will be a married man.

Engagement Tuesday, 17th November 2009

THE BIG DAY Wednesday, 18th November 2009

He turned around expecting to see darkness but his pupils shrunk with the focussed beam of light which hit him in the centre of the eye. He flinched for a moment because he did not understand where that beam came from. It did not seem to have a beginning but the small pupil of his eye which was illuminated to a bright brown seemed to be the end.

He decided to follow the light  to it’s origin. He tried moving out of the light’s path but no he could not, his eyes started to burn and he could not bear the pain. He had not felt such pain or suffering before, nor had he heard of such suffering. His voice drained itself in the light, his body seemed to merge with the light. He felt like he was about to become god, a supreme power which people believed to be the source of all joy and suffering. So if he was about to become god should he be feeling the pain? But yeah the pain was as real as the darkness. He tried closing his eyes but he could not. It simply refused to close. It was like he had lost control over his bodily functions. Something warm and sticky seemed to flow down his leg and onto the ground. No he could not move to see what it was.

Then the pain seemed to go away he seemed to have reached his destination but he had not moved from that spot for the last 30 minutes. He knew the exact time because the sky showed him a star lit Analog Clock. The time was 3:10pm.  That was the trigger for him to come out of the Alpha state. He closed his eyes.

He tried to open his eyes but he could not. They seemed to be sealed shut. Wax was dripping from the candle above his eyes and it had encompassed his entire body. He thought he was becoming god, now all he could hear was the MOO of a buffalo.

Marriages are made in Heaven but this one is made in the IDIOT BOX

I keep hearing the name Rakhi Sawant every once in a while. But it was not until a few months back that I got to see her. One fine day I was at work slogging my ass off, when I goth this call from a friend “Rakhi’s in town”, she said and I was like “Rakhi got over in August, and I refuse to accept you as my Rakhi Sister” to which an upset but excited voice said “No Dumbo, I am talking about Rakhi Sawant the actress , in flesh and blood, she is shooting for a Tamil Film Item Number” and a least bothered me said “So, What?”, now, guys never ignore a girls’ excitement with a “so what?” kind of question they will ignore you after that unless…

So she goes on “It is ok if you don’t want to see her, but I need your camera so I can take photos of her.” Ah no wonder she even bothered to call me. So then I ask her “So come home and pick it up. I don’t have a problem giving you my camera” and here was the smart one “No, please come to the old Gaiety Theatre Complex and give it to me.” anyways the gentleman that I am  decided to go over and see why even girls were going ga ga over Rakhi Sawant.

So I enter the sets and I see this woman in really skimpy clothes and sweltering in the Chennai heat. My friend was jumping among the crowd of onlookers and her excitement was so visible that I decided to give her the camera and rush out before she did anything embarrassing. She snatched the camera from my hand and just ran into the crowd. Now you may think why I did not react to my camera being used like this. Read on… Now this friend of mine is really short so she could hardly take any photos so she came searching for me again.”Oi! you should be helping me with taking photos.” I took the camera into my hands unwillingly and walked into the crowd. which was leering at Ms. Sawant’s assets which looked like bread ready to pop out of the toaster, Took some photos which came out all shaky, turned walked back to my friend thrust the camera in her hand and walked out. This was exactly the time when I started hating

Rakhi Sawant – The Woman with more bust than brain.

While this happened sometime back. Something on twitter caught my attention recently. Ever since I have become a twitter addict I have been getting to read a lot of news there. This was how I came across #suemaya , I was asked by my friend @streetanchor to join the fight against Mayawati. How can Mayawati be so dumb? I think there should be a Dumb Politicians Network (DumP Net) and people like Mayawati, Jayalalitha and the other displaced(thanks @just_reva for the word) politicians should join in and think about how to cheat the people without getting caught. A Political Social Media Network. I am sure they will find it useful to exchange such ideas and also be a black book of sorts for Upcoming Dumb Politicians.

Maybe It is not Rakhi who should be having a Swayamvar? Maybe it is Mayawati!!!

Apparently these are the Photos from the Set I had been at. It is a Tamil Movie called “Muthirai” for which Ms. Sawant was doing an Item number.

I did not pass on my camera, Ofcourse not. It was this guys’ camera. This guy who plays “Guess whose fart?”

Well this post has nothing to do with this or Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.

One Morning, One Documentary, an emotional experience. I have seen quite some shit and I have hardly been moved by it. I have always felt that shit is part of life. But I was watching a Documentary this Morning “Born into Brothels” I could not believe what I saw. I could not see it. It was hard to see the life led by children of sex workers also called prostitutes. This is supposed to be the worlds oldest trade. (I don’t think so though.) I saw children talking about becoming part of the Line. Children who matter of factly say that they know what their mothers do behind the closed curtains. These Children were given cameras and taught photography by Zana Briski. I don’t know who this woman is but it is hard to stay in a place like Sonagachi looking at these things happening  I broke down after watching her documentary How did this lady work with them day in and day out? How did she keep her sanity? Forget Zana Briski. I have a friend Reva Ananda who has worked with children of sex workers in Sonagachi too. I am going to be asking her to write her experiences. I don’t know if she will but yeah I will check for sure.

People have views on Red Light Districts and Sex workers. But what is the kind of recognition that’s given to them. When the parents are not respected in the society then how will their children ever be. I am of the firm belief that whatever shit happens anywhere in this world (let the Tigers kill the Lions and then get annhiliated by the Lions. Let the Osamas ram air crafts into buildings) but children should not suffer. Why should a child hear her next door aunty yelling “I know you slept with your son”  at her mother. What kind of mental torture would a child go through? Each time they hear coarse language being used and seeing their mother in several states of undress, I am sure these kids grow up faster mentally they become numb to the pains that they experience. I am going to be researching a bit on Sex Workers and see what kind of life they lead.What happens to the children? There is way too much thats happening. I am unable to see what happens to children.I do understand that this has been happening for Centiries now. But I wanna find out if poverty is really the reason why it is happening. There are several unanswered questions that I would like to find answers for. This Documentary is very strong. It hit me heard between my eyes.

For the last few weeks my blog was inaccessible. It was extremely frustrating to think everyday that I need to work on my blog restore it. I tried a zillion complicated things and then asked Sathyanarain to help me. He tried a billion things but no solution in sight and I was ashamed to call myself a wordpress power-user. But then tonight sleep depravity got one fresh idea and it was so simple so easy that I was sure that it would work. So after weeks of meddling around, the solution just popped into my head at about 0245hrs today.

My Blog is back and I have taken a vow that I will take care of my blog and her readers. I am sure you have noticed the changes. At The Altar is going here and this blog has been re-christened “Aravind Kumar’s Blog”. I don’t know if I can manage to write in two places. But I have plans laid out. So Wait and Watch.

I had given up painting and Sketching a long time ago. But there has been a sudden renewal of interest and I have been scribbling a while now. This is Weird Art. So let’s see some weirder comments. I have an Oil Painting which I am willing to give away (No Not the one shown here). I don’t know on what basis I am giving it away. But the basis will be weird. May not be the greatest piece of art But…

CLICK HERE to see the Actual Sketch

P.S. : This is a work of art. And if you see things and make interpretations please leave comments so i know.

This piece of work is not meant to hurt anyone.

Update : This piece of Digital Art has been published at the Chai Kadai ( I submitted it to them) Thanks Tea Master