Curd (Yogurt) Rice and some great Tamil cinema scenes

Have you ever tried the combination? Let me tell you, its awesome. I don't know what happened today but I desperately wanted to watch some great scenes that I could recollect during my lunch which was of course curd rice and mango pickle.

Here are the scenes that I had in my playlist:

1. Anbe Sivam: This is my favorite movie of all times all *wood combined. A lot can be learned by watching this movie and it can easily be overwhelming. This scene esp. delivers the messages very beautifully:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anbe_Sivam

2. Thevar Magan - A film that was nominated by India to Oscars for Best Foreign Language film needs no introduction. Selecting Shivaji Ganesan was the best decision made for this film. This movie can easily be compared to films like GodFather. But none have such a gripping scene like this one (my personal opinion).

3. Thalapathi - Rajini, Mammooty, Arvind Swamy, Illayaraja and Mani Ratnam. Those names will paint a picture of the movie itself. This scene has magic of all five of them:

4. Thillu Mullu - Even though a remake, this movie was a brilliant comedy movie esp. Rajini's dialog delivery was awesome. And who can forget the famous interview scene by 'Thengai' Srinivasan. In the current modern times, this scene deserves a 'ROTFL' label. :)

5. Panchathanthiram - A deadly combination to make you laugh from start to end. Actors from 4 different states and dialog by Kamal and you've got yourself a brilliant comedy film.

That is folks. My lunch was over and these are the few scenes I could remember (and youtube had them). Hope you enjoyed them!

My all time fav TED videos

TED is one of those things that will change the way you look at things. If you have not heard about it already, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. It provides a platform for anyone to express their ideas, work, experience, etc. you name it. The end goal is to provide a different perspective for the audience and also to make them more educated about the subject. TED recently started a India version and so far its doing really well. They had some really good speakers. Just couple of months after its initiation, I got introduced to Parikrma Humanity Foundation and Honey Bee network. I was also happy to know that many organizations are out there constantly trying to improve living conditions in India.

Here are some of my all time favorite TED talks:

1. Hans Roslings - Insight on poverty.

- This guy will blow your mind. Period!!!

2. Sir Ken Robinson - Does School kill creativity?

- Brilliant speaker and excellent ideas. This is very much required in India.

3. Sir Ken Robinson - Bring on the learning revolution

- His follow up talk after four years

4. Vilayanur Ramachandran - A journey to the center of your mind

- A brilliant neurologist and funny speaker. I saw a show on Discovery about Ramachandran long time back

5. Harsha Bhogle - The rise of Cricket, the rise of India

- A superb commentator and equally superb speaker

6. Shukla Bose - Teaching one child at a time

- One of the founders of Parikrma Humanity Foundation

7. Anil Gupta - India's hidden hotbeds of invention

- Very enthusiastic speaker who talks about invention in rural areas in India

These are some of the talks I have really enjoyed watching and have watched it multiple times. There are hundreds of other talks which you will find interesting. Enjoy!

Mafia - "nan villager villager villager"

"Nan Police.. and I inquired about Sreevatsa and he is a Mafia" blurts Pavan. Silence prevails in the room....

If you don't know the rules of Mafia game, here is a quick intro:

Its a character game with two main roles: Mafia and Villager. The goal here is obvious. Mafia should get rid of the villager and vice versa. Ithu nama chinna vayasula police robber vilayatu illa. This game is all about talking and convincing people. In a game of say 9 people, 2-3 people will play mafia and others are villagers. No one knows the roles of others except for Mafia themselves who know the other mafias. There is usually a moderator (thala vali vela.. you will know later) who controls the game. Here is how it goes:

Moderator will ask everyone to close their eyes (bayangara sappa makkal nu nenakathinga..). The he/she will ask mafia to open their eyes. At this point mafias decide (using their eyes.. if you make noise you are in trouble) to get rid of the villager. They will tell the moderator their choice. Then moderator will ask Police to open their eyes. At this point, police can point at anyone and ask the moderator the role of that person. Then doctor opens his/her eyes. They will point at a person to save their life. If mafia had chosen to kill that person, then they just got saved by the doctor. Now the moderator will ask everyone to open their eyes. If someone was killed (and the doctor didnt save) then the moderator will announce who was killed and that person is out of the game. The moderator does not reveal the role of the person. Once everyone opens their eyes, they scramble to identify who the mafia is and make a decision to kill that person. As before the role is not revealed again.

... "Machi... Sreevatsa va potu thaliralan da..". At this point I am trying to come up with something as I am the next one to talk. Everyone stops talking and the moderator asks me to talk. Ennakula oru politician irukanu ennaku romba nala oru nambikai... so eduthu vutan... I just realized that during our last Mafia gaming session Pavan was caught red handed trying to masquerade as Police. At that time I was the Police. In this game it was totally opposite. Don't you love ironies... 

"Dae pesu da..." shouts Moderator. "Ungala ellarum pathi nan romba bayangarama yosichirunthan... ippadi sappaya game valayadaringa.. cha.." as I said, edhuthu vittutan... "Dae.. peter a niruthitu matter ku vada" nama Gokul mariyathaya sonnaru.. "Thala.. TR mathiri pesaringa"... "Dae..." moracharu Gokul... "seri seri.. Couple of weeks back mafia game la Pavan police nu solli vasama matunathu nama ellarukum theriyum. Appadi therinchum sonnthama yosikama.. pavan solrathalam kekaringale.. kevalama game vilayadaringa" adichu thaki pesunan. Everyone started thinking. I was thinking to myself "pudhichomillai pudhichomillai pudhichomillai"..

Intha Mafia game a pathi sela pala vishayangala na solla virumbaran (read in parthiban's voice)

1. Ellarum periya avan avanuku raghavan instincts irukiramathiri viladuvanga. For example.. "nan enna nanekuran na.. sreevatsa romba silent a irukan.. so avan mafia a irupano nu oru doubt varuthu.." . Athuku nan kudutha bathil... "dae mani kalaila 3 mani achu da... enna enthuruchu dance a pannasolra."

2. Game starting la pesa arampicha odane.. "nan villager villager villager" nu adhuchu solluvanunga. Example: Sreeram. Nan ippo narrate pannitu irukara game la avuruthan moderator. Intha mathiri atkala than mothala note pannanum.

3. Moderator oda job romba kashtam.. After a while into the game.. avan avan bayangaramana theory la solluvan.. so tharu mara argument nadakum.. Moderator kuttatha samalikaruthu kulla usurae poirum..

And what you are thinking is absolutely true... nanum the above stated points la pannirukan :)

Our moderator came into the picture again and asked Vamsee to talk next. The best thing was Vamsee was the other Mafia :) . He being a very good guy wanted to save me. So he told everyone that he is The Police (avan manasula "We are the untouchables".. kakha kakha padam oditu irunthucha nu theriyala.. entha dhairiyathula sonna nu theriyala) and that he inquired about me and sathiya pramanama nan villager nu sonna. Intha time la nan Goundamani dialogue onnu sollika asapadaren: "adrasaka adrasaka adrasaka". Very interesting part. Nama Sreeram was moderating this game and he was in for a very tough ride after this.

If you have played mafia before, you know by now that this move made by our Vamsee could go either ways. If they believe him then I am safe and Pavan is gone. If not, then myself and Vamsee are gone'o gone and the game is over. Now all we had to do was convince everyone that Pavan was the mole. In a crowd filled with Mafia experts this was tough. We tried our level best and after the first round of talks only one person was supporting us. En manasula appove "kathi sutatha da.. kai vittha da" pattu oditu irunthuchu.

Makkale.. nan romba hype kudhuthu ungala noga adika virumbala. Kadaisi varaikum ennaium and Vamsee ya nambave ille. So tharu mara potu thaltaninga. We lost the game.

We played two more games and to my luck I played mafia all three times. We lost two and was able to win one.

The last session of Mafia was the best game we have had in a long time. If you get a chance to play Mafia, don't miss it.

Ithudan vidai perukiren. nandri vanakkam..

- Sreevatsa (Direction, production, dialogue, screenplay)