Post 101- Looking Back with Gratitude

WordPress tells me this is my 101st post. Wow! The day I started blogging, way back in November 2006, I never dreamed I would get this far. It all began far, far away in a land called Rediffiland. The Ilanders were a motley crowd of wonderful people. Some of the best blogger friends I made were early dwellers of this mystic place. We all came together, supporting, motivating and being there for each other as we learnt the ropes of blogging. Somewhere along the way, the place unravelled and most of us migrated to WordPress or Blogger. But the friendships that sprouted there haven’t faded away. They merely spilled over to Facebook and continue to thrive.  

2 States and an Appeal to Bollywood

Dear Bollywood,

The next time your big airy head comes up with the idea of a South Indian character, please make sure that he or she says AT LEAST SOME of the words right.

Like Sambar for example.

Sambar courtesy Mohini Sharma. Thank you Mohini, the sambar tastes as delicious as it looks.

Tava Virahe Keshava… Happy Birthday Krishna, Eternal Lover

This was originally published in www.yentha.com on Janmashtami, a few years ago, when I was doing a weekly column named Kochuvarthamanam for them. This article was the one for which I received the nastiest comments. Turns out this was also the column I had the maximum support for.

Wumps, Wumbus and Other Wacky Words

It was when putting up a Facebook status update about Dr. Seuss on his birthday on March 2^nd, that I realized that I had much more to say about Dr. Seuss than what would justify as a ‘status update’.

Mike Myers hamming it up as one of Dr.Seuss’ most popular characters, The Cat in the Hat

Dr. Seuss was never popular in India – at least not when I was growing up. I had actually seen pictures of his strange characters back home in some old American magazine, but I had no idea about him.

The Grand Old Man in the Closet

Yup, he’s out. Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, better known as the dearly departed Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is gay. His creator JK Rowling pushed him out of the closet just last week while answering questions at Carnegie Hall. Well, that was a bolt out of the blue.

So Long and Thanks for All That Magic

image courtesy :www.earthfirstjournal.org

It’s here finally… the long wait is almost over… a wait spanning a decade. In a mere matter of less than 24 hours, as I sit writing this, publishing history will unfold before my eyes. A simple idea conceived by a struggling single mother on a train ride, way back in 1990 is near completion. Tomorrow the world will know. Tomorrow millions of devout readers will know everything… if their favorite boy wizard lives or dies in his unenviable quest to rid the world, both magic and muggle, of the most fearsome dark sorcerer of all, the most evil of them all, the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort, a.k.a. Thomas Marvolo Riddle.

Saturday is bound to be quiet day, across most of the world, TVs are going to be turned off and movie theatres and amusement parks are bound to be empty. Simply because millions of readers both young and old are going to be buried deep in the nearly 800 pages of a book, not just rooting for, but living, breathing, dueling, planning, searching, hurting, loving, laughing, grieving, and hopefully triumphing with a young wizard, an extremely likeable young man by name of Harry James Potter.