Idle musings

    My fluency in reading Kannada is very poor, compared to my familiarity with English. My wife regularly solves crosswords in Kannada in the weekly Kannada magazine "Taranga". I attempt English crosswords but rarely complete all clues. So I admire her talent in solving Kannada crosswords. It was after marriage that I realised from her about the richness of local Indian languages like Kannada. The spark had been ignited by my late father who told me that he wished I had learnt how to read Kannada so that I could enjoy "Ramayana Darshanam" written by the Kannada literary giant Kuvempu or K. V. Puttappa also known popularly as Kuvempu . Now after having read one classic Kannada novel, I feel that it may yet be possible that I do read Kuvempu's magnum opus one of these days !     About 18 months ago or so, I picked up the Kannada novel "Roopadarshi" written by K. V. Iyer to read. In the beginning, I must have irritated my wife to a large extent, asking

    On last Saturday, 23-Aug-15, my wife and I watched "Rangitaranga", a Kannada movie at Garuda Swagath. This blog contains my review of the movie. Note: I follow a personal rule to avoid using personal names as much as possible. I have followed this rule in the blog post.     First, some background : my wife and her family are avid fans of Kannada literature and movies also. In particular, my wife's brother is a passionate supporter of Kannada movies. It is through him that we got to know that Rangitaranga is a movie to be watched. Other people also asked me to watch the movie, praising the thrill element and the story. My curiosity was whetted: I decided I had to watch this movie. Unfortunately, my wife's colleagues persuaded her to watch the movie with them. She watched the movie and further stoked my desire about watching the film by saying that the movie was scary at times and that I should watch it. I told her that she would have to be scared all over again an

    This blog post is about a book called "The Curse of Surya" by Dev Prasad available at http://www.flipkart.com/curse-surya-english/p/itme6whmybqh3zzs .     I started reading "The Curse of Surya" and found myself drawn into the legends shown in the book. Before visiting Gujarat last year (my blog on the trip is available at http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/2014/11/gujarat-and-faith_23.html ), the author Dev Prasad's first book gave me many useful tips about places around Dwarka and Somnath. These mythological nuggets are also present in "The Curse of Surya". In fact, his first book: "Krishna, A journey through the lands and legends of Krishna", available at http://www.amazon.com/Krishna-journey-through-Lands-Legends/dp/8184951701 describes many places associated with Lord Krishna's life and also narrates legends associated with Lord Krishna and those places. I consider myself reasonably familiar with the stories associated wi

    IPL 8 has ended with a winner that few would have expected in the middle of the tournament. Mumbai Indians appeared unlikely to qualify for the knock out stage. Before that the cricket World Cup ended with a more predictable winner. It would have been a fairy tale finish for New Zealand had they won the cup. This was reality though. The professionalism of the Australians came to the fore in the final as they dismantled the New Zealand batting that had faced few tests.     After the world cup, there has been IPL 8 of course. Also, England faced West Indies in an engaging series that promises a new dawn for West Indies cricket. West Indies has uncovered a couple of young stars who can play a lead role in time to come. The first test between New Zealand and England was an absorbing one. New Zealand was in control for the initial part of the test but then in a couple of sessions, England inched back in and soon took the upper hand. It was an engaging contest. The second test has just

    My mother, her brother, my wife and I watched "Piku", the Hindi movie on the morning of 17-May-15. This blog post is my review of the movie.     I think I will begin with the major shortcoming of the movie, as I see it. In a sentence: there is not much of a story in the movie.     Amitabh Bachchan plays Bhashkor Bannerjee, a 70-year old man suffering from constipation. Deepika Padukone acts as his daughter, the eponymous Piku. Piku is devoted to her father and is single. Balendra Singh is Budhan, the caretaker for the family and Bhashkor's personal attendant, in particular. They set out on a trip to their home town from Kolkata with the owner of a taxi company Rana Chaudhary, played by Irrfan Khan. Essentially, the story is about how Piku's life revolves around her father and his (perceived) ailments and quirks of old age. Just incidentally, Rana is drawn into Bhashkor's struggle to achieve "good motion" and becomes sympathetic to Piku. The sympathy