Kadabavanam

I faintly remember the 1st time I was in this city. It was during a school trip from Trichy to Kanyakumari. We were travelling in bus and i woke up in the middle of the night and asked sleepily

"which place is this?!"
somebody replied " I guess it is Madurai"

I put my eyes close to the window and tried hard to catch a glimpse of this city to which i have never been to and i didnt think at that point of time , that i would come again.

It was after 5 years after i finished school that i realised that i am going to be spending a major part of my life in this city also known as "The Athens of the East".

It was only when dad got transferred and we almost left madurai, that i realised how close this place was to me. I didnt really want to leave , and now that we are NOT actually moving out,it made me so happy and write this blog.

When i first moved into Madurai, I loathed it. I found it to be the most boring place on earth. My friends were bored too, complaining about how Madurai did not have any place to "hang out" .

Well, Madurai is much more than that. It is deep. It is original. It is innate. There are external influences, ofcourse, but the city still manages to retain its rawness, and that is why i fell in love with this place.

So what is so special about this place? There are many things in madurai (only in madurai) which are special.

The world famous meenakshi temple.
The ladies selling idli on the street.
Jasmine flowers(Madura malli) which are being air-lifted to London, France, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai everday.
Magnificent Nayak palace.
Jigarthanda - a drink you should never miss.
Murugan Idli kadai..(Idli tastes the best here)
Festivals - anything and everything in Madurai will be celebrated. Election results,exam results, cricket match , marriages, temple fest , anything u name, there are fireworks always..

Speaking of festivals, the best time to visit madurai is during "chithirai tiruvizha". It is a temple festival but Madurai is vibrant in its fullest form in this season , which comes in summer time. People from in and around Madurai come and celebrate and the city is full crowded for that whole week. People even stay in petrol bunks during this time during lack of space.

People of madurai are fun loving. They love entertainment. There is some exhibition or the other which keeps on happening in the city. Home needs, book fair, arts n crafts or fun exhibition anything...

Dir Maniratnam, Dir Bala, Dir Bharathiraja, Maestro Ilayaraja, the legendary MS Subulakshmi, T V Soundarrajan (founder of TVS), Lyricist vairamuthu, Actor vadivelu.. are some of the famous personalities from Madurai..(few that i know)

Well what can i say, i cant help but find everything about madurai special! What else did i miss? oh yeah.. the famous prema villas halwa (SHOULD NOT BE MISSED) , burma idiyappam too..

And the people here especially, they are hardworking , straight forward, adamant may be, and very strong in expressing both their love and hatred.

A small incident to explain this would be when i had gone with my friend to have some juice, i had kept some in my glass without finishing it. When the cleaning lady asked if she can clear it, i said yes coz i felt i cudnt have more.

The lady lifted the glass saw the juice inside and exclaimed "Innum padhi juice apdiyae iruku? en kudikala" (meaning u still have left half of the juice without drinking why?") I just smiled. It was like a mother asking her child. Its that connection u feel , the bonding, which i dont know if i will experience in any other place. Maybe yes Maybe no.

Madurai is a part of my life now. Have had many memorable moments in this beautiful city. My college life , class bunking and watching movies in theatres - mani impala, palanganatham jeyam (was my 1st theatre visit in madurai) , cinipriya, mapillai vinayagar, vetri, madhi, ambiga, devi kalaivani, jazz, thanga reegal, guru (saw avatar in tamil here :D ) , tamil jeya.. i guess ive been to all theatres in madurai.. i dont know what i have missed.. Madurai will always remain one of the best chapters of my life.

PS: Kadabavanam was what madurai was originally called.
And for ppl who think Maddur vada is from Madurai, NO IT IS NOT!

Watching..sorry.. "EXPERIENCING" a Rajnikanth movie

I've been an ardent fan of superstar since my childhood days.. maybe since "Rajathi Raja" as far as i remember.. I still remember watching "EJAMAN" N no of times and narrating the story to my classmates OVER n OVER n OVER again .. and "BADSHAH" need not mention.. the excitement of watching a Rajnikanth movie cannot be described.. I remember going with my dad to theatre for 3 days continously and then return home without getting ticket for "MUTHU" (there were no online reservations then) ..

And after so many years, watching ENDHIRAN, i still felt the same.. the same excitement of watching superstar on screen.. :) i can say no other actor has such screen presence!

I reserved my tickets for 3rd day afternoon show.. and i was so excited that even when i was about to sleep the previous night , i kept thinking about the next day ;) the same feeling i get the night before diwali when i was a kid!

We reached the theatre half an hour before. The banners and hoardings, the decorations, the excitement all around, DAMN - nothing/ no one can EVER match this except superstar

There was an autostand outside the theatre and i just managed to listen the last line of their conversation when one guy said.. " சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் நா சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் தான் " ..
Well ofcourse! :)

There were ppl from villages in and around madurai with small kids who were probably visiting a theatre for the first time! the excitement on their face, curiosity of what this movie is going to be like was great to look.. they were singing "kilimanjaro" in chorus.. :)

once people were inside the theatre, there was the usual whistling and screaming and shouting - THE PERFECT AMBIENCE for watching a superstar movie - can give any amount of money for this rather than paying 500rs or 1000rs in a multiplex and watching a movie sitting still and just clapping.. ;)

highest decibles will be reached when the name " SUPER STAR RAJNI " appears on the screen.. and சூப்பர் ஸ்டார் வாழ்க slogans.. :)

Personally, the story was just ok.. but i LOVED thalaivar's performance especially as CHITTI.. :)

In the blacksheep scene when chitti says 'meeaaaahhhh' there was continous applause for 5mins.. It was great to see that scene.. Rajni the actor still lives :)

for every 10mins (minimum) there will b a dialogue or scene or stunt where superstar gets the applause..

Well, i know this movie has been criticized by many.. but what the heck i dont care :) coz not all bus conductors become superstars.. and Rajnikanth deserves it!

Love u superstar :) please give us more movies..

WORKING(?!) FOR THE GRAND FINALE

Here goes my 1st attempt with a comic strip(kind of).. this is as a result of my laziness to type(hehe)

Following is the process of preparation for the "GRAND FINALE"
a.k.a "THE FINAL VIVA" of THESIS!







athu enemo therila ena mayamo therila (guna kamal style) submission ku 2 days munadi than work pana mood varuthu.. till then process continues...!

VTV with a new climax: My take

This latest one by GVM, starts with a question by the hero(Simbu) 'why did he have to choose JESSIE(Trisha) among all the girls in the world'. Thats one interesting way to start a love story,(but it need not have to be repeated so many times :P ) why did our hero fall for our heroine? Thus unfolds the story of Karthik & Jessie and their journey of love.

Karthik is a young aspiring film maker who chases his dreams and falls in love at first sight with Jessie. Why? We do not know.."Why did he have to fall in love with Jessie among all the girls in the world" Its supposed to be Magic :P Jessie is a beautiful,smart,confused girl of the modern age caught between the unconditional love of Karthik and the promise she has made to her parents. And Karthik as in any usual love story tries to woo Jessie to make her fall in love with him.

Eventually, Jessie falls for Karthik and after a short n sweet love episode, misunderstandings occur and Jessie leaves. Two years later, Karthik becomes a director and meets Jessie in Newyork. But unfortunately Jessie is now married, and they both part with a heavy heart. This was supposed to be a touching end to a full fledged romantic story. Unfortunately, this ending has been altered(The version i saw today) The new version has a happy ending though which is very much cliched in which Jessie is not married , and joins hands with Karthik, which i thought was bullshit.

Why do people always want happy endings? It took away all the flavour from the film!

So what is special about this love story?

1.ARR - If theres something that creates magic in this film, its music! Be it for compensating bland expressions of Trisha or livening up romantic scenes, ARR you have done your job!

2.Manoj Paramahamsa - Hats off to this man! Each and every frame looks beautiful. The entire film looks visually appealing, you cannot find anything which looks bad/ugly. A few examples: the reflection of the church in allepey in the back waters, visuals of Omana pennae, Trisha's house in Kerala.. awesome cinematography.

3.Dialogues - Dialogues need a spl mention here, which brings a totally breezy feel to the movie . Small, witty, funny dialogues Eg: Between Karthik n Ganesh in police station Karthik: "she always turns her back to me.. not that im complaining" :P

4.Thinking

5.Still thinking

6. Nope nothing else. :D

If not for the above 3 points, VTV is "Just another love story". Though VTV has "JUST" managed to come out of the "just another" tag, it has not fully made it.

If,

-the second half could have been less wavering

-Trisha's performance could have been much more expressive

-the film had much more magic to it as it was expected

-the original climax retained (PLZ do it )

VTV would have stood out as a different love story!

VERDICT - VTV disappoints. New climax disappoints even more. Sorry Gautam.

Stage 4 – Single line n concept stage

“Yea she is fine, in her final sem.. she has her concept stage submission no? So she is busy with that”

When you hear your mother talking ‘technical’ terms like “concept” “submission” “thesis” “review”.. you realise how much thesis has influenced your lifestyle and the ones who live with you..
Its that time of the thesis, when architecture students start talking philosophy , explore about human evolution or start to appreciate the elements of nature! Confused? Welcome to the CONCEPT stage..
Its THE word that haunts us since our 1st year of an archi life.. concept concept..! we get so bugged up that sometimes we come with our own proverbs like:
“Concept is not important. Comfort is important” - credits to R.

Deadline this time – Jan 29 (after a successful postponement from 28th . one day matters a lot) :P

The last five days before the submission was very crucial. Because, in that short period of time.. you have to finalise the concept, apply it and finalise the plans and work on the presentation.
For non-archi people who are reading this, the above mentioned process is not as easy as it seems and takes huge amount of scribbling, head banging, discussions, calculations, cups of coffee, days without bath, sleep, food etc ..
It is the finalisation or freezing of the design which takes time, once the design is finalised schematically, presentation consumes lesser time (relatively).

Finalisation of the design requires hours of brain storming! You have to curse, request and plead your brain to come up with something innovative/creative to attract the jury members :D

I remember a quote from the Calvin & Hobbes comic series:
C: Creativity cannot be turned on like faucet! You have to be in the right mood
H: What is the right mood?
C: Last minute panic

The problem is, the right mood doesn’t arrive until the night before submission! :P

After a mind bugging, mentally and physically distressing week.. we managed to submit our sheets. Some complete.
Some incomplete.
Some with awesome presentation work(thanks to juniors).
Some with AWFUL presentation(like me).

We had two days in between the review (weekend) which was meant for doing a study model. But given the level of frustration we had after a dreadful week, we preferred watching a movie than starting a model.. 2 movies back to back .. and we felt relieved :D

So asusual, the last minute story begins and we started with the model on Sunday evening, after a successful nightout and with help from Dad(he helped in cutting mount board) i managed to complete something which almost looked like a model!

I came to bed at 2:00 am and i was not getting sleep. Too many things were running in my mind, above all that was MONDAY! I had my review the next day..
I was awake for a long time and i don’t remember when i slept..

Feb 1 – Review day
The day greeted me with a (un)pleasant surprise. I was lot no. 1 .
Oh shit. Right from that moment, tension ran through me. Friends and my guide wished me all the best. It was a very tense moment ( only bcoz i was 1st )

I pinned up my sheets and saw 5 jury members in front of me sitting coolly. I started off, and for nearly 10mins my presentation was uninterrupted.

Mindvoice: wow i rock. They don’t seem to question me.. thats..
It was interrupted by the jury panel.

“Wait a minute, i don’t get it.. can u plz explain?”
And thus began my official review “kili” (local slang for getting bashed in the review)

They were displeased with whatever i had done! I started defending my design until a point of time, when suddenly one of the jury members said:

“This is not a viable solution.. this is very much UNACCEPTABLE! I guess this must be a half an hours work! “

Yea right. I stopped defending my design and became temporarily deaf and dumb!
There were many laughter, mocking, arguements and i was waiting for the two words:
“OK NEXT”

Finally the bell rang and i started removing my sheets, my guide who felt sympathetic towards me gave me some consolation!
But then, after few reviews, i realised it was the same case with most of the students(the kili i mean) . So i was satisfied :D

Everyone who came out of the jury room, looked exhausted and depressed after hearing continuous suggestions from the jury members.
Irony is that, the following was my fortune for the day(source: FB )

Here is your Today's Taurus Horoscope
Step back and let the experts take over today while you sit and watch -- and learn.

How true!! Stage 4 was not so good for many! Fingers crossed :(

LEARNING TO SAY "NO"

NO – it is mostly perceived as a negative sign. Pessimistic. Inauspicious. But i say NO. I mean sometimes you HAVE to say “NO” to someone at some point of time.

Imagine how many times do you say “yes” in a day?
YES/OK/SURE/ALL RIGHT.

We tend to become submissive by saying yes or agreeing to something all the time. Most of the cases we say yes but we don’t really mean it!

“Can you finish this report by evening?”
“Yes”(Is he mad? How can i possibly finish this within few hours?”)

“Please can i come with you for the movie?”
“Sure” (Oh no.)

“fine.. she will take topicA and YOU will take topicB”
“but.. i don’t..”
“You should be doing it!!”
“OK”(this sucks!)

“Are you sure you want to delete this?”
“Yes”Even to a computer!

How nice it would be, if we all could just tell what we think in our minds and just say “no” and refuse something we don’t like?

What stops us? Mostly it’s the fear of the aftermath. Come on.. why bother about the others. I think I should be happy that i have said “NO” and stood up for myself by not doing what i don’t want to.

I’m gonna start trying this from this new year by learning to say “NO” 
Happy New year everyone! :)

PS: This post is inspired from the movie “WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS” from the quote: I'd rather do nothing and be happy than do something I know I don't love :)

Stage 3 - STUDY STAGE

Dec 21 2009
Time: 2pm to 4pm

Thats the deadline for the submission of the official first review! But the review is on 23rd dec & 24th dec.

In this study stage we have to submit:
1. Data collection
2. Literature case study
3. Live case study
4. Site study
5. Requirements

Asusual, we work only in the last minute (yep thats us!) . But since we have presentation in A3 sheets, we started 3 days back.

Plz note: This is the latest and our fellow classmates have started atleast 1 week back!

Dec 19 10:17pm
ME: hw much ovr

R: dei... tom im goingto take prints da..... 2 o clock :)
have to finish only 2 sheets

ME: pirichu viduriyae da
"K" student nu prove panra
evlo sheets

R: dei... enna sollita..... ithukku nan hang pannikalam..
nammalam yennaiku mudichirukom... still in 12th sheet....

ME: ada dakalti chuma soniya

R: aama.... nethu ethumey pannalanu sonna naan... inaikulla ellathayum mudichiten nu sonna.... nan sooooooper women ah than irukkanum :D

ME: ada thu


In the beginning stages, seriousness had not gotten into us. But slowly it creeps in..

Time:10:40 pm
R: dei.... mudichiralama?

me: me fin nly 3 sheets

R:oh no...y?

me:1 sheet ku romba time edukuthu

R: romba analyse panra pola ;)
epdiyaachum oru 15 sheets aachum thethiru
illa..... nammala deptla madhikkave maataanga


minimum of 15 sheets was our target. But eppadiyo 30 sheets thethitom ;) After staring at the screen for more than 63 hours, i started to hate PS CS2 screen :(
3 continous night outs.. not possible without friends who are also "virtually" awake near us in GTALK :D

Time: 4:16am DEC 20
me: dont wry we can do it B-)
evalavo panitom itha pana matoma

R: ippudiye ethanai kaalam than yemaatruvar indha naatile!!!! indha naatile!!!!

me: odum varaiyil vetri namaku oduthal niruthathaee

R: odikittey irunda eppudi???? engayaachum ninnu thaana aaganum...

me: yes monday 2 mani ku than namma nikanum

R: oooooohhhhoooo.....

me: ena ohoo.. lets continue our work
apurm namaku ooooooooooooo
:)


Even at 4am in the morning, somebody will be online to give us an energy boost. Ana sila peru irukanga, 21 sheets mudichutenu anavathula aduvanga (none other than "V" )
They will irritate others by putting songs like:

"Kalakuven kalakuven kattam katti kalakuven.. thittam theeti kalakuven.. paru..
hey kalak kalak.. hey kalak kalak.. "

In this point of time i would like to give my special thanks to Mr. Vijay Antony for giving us a wonderful music album of VETTAIKARAN.

patta kathi pala palaka
patti thotti kala kalakka
paranthu varan vettaikaran vaamararin kootukaran
nikkama odu odu odu odu odu odu
odu odu odu odu odu odu odu odu
varan paaru vettaikaran

If one hears this song while working, a new kind of vibration will enter the body and rejuvenate the body cells, providing full energy to keep us awake.

Dec 20
Time : 2:30pm(skipping our afternoon nap)

me: standards ku evlo sheet podanum ma

VP: 5

me: EKSI

VP: enn da.. 2 podu

me: ore definition a iruku
pakavae mokkaiya irukae

VP: chumma podu da! yaru padika pora


After all this outtadi and "sincere hardwork" we took print at 2pm on dec 21st and submitted exactly at 4pm.. Punctuality is very important you see :D

DEC 23 2009 - REVIEW DAY

This time lots were taken by the guides and not by students.

Ivlo kashtapattu sheets potu pona, buggers they dint even take a look at our sheets for five mins. x-( They just skipped through it and started firing us with questions.

The "REVIEW COMMITTEE" consisted of:

-Thesis co-ordinator
-Guide
-Visiting faculty(Son of Gun)
-External1
-External2

During the review also, there were some interesting moments

Example:

Me: According to the IS code of 1978 the standards for low income housing are...
Reviewer: Wait.. 1978? they havent revised till now? do they follow such old standards?
(Mindvoice : unaku ithu thevaiya? entha varushathula eluthinanga nu ketangala.. :x)

Me: umm .. sir ..they also follow NBC2005
R1: i see, are they same or different?
Me: (ethuku vambu) Ofcourse its different!

Common sense and timing are two important aspects one need to have during a review.
Else you will be struck!

"why do u have a pink colour format!?"

No one expected such kind of questions really..! Guides play an important role here by supporting their students when they are trapped by the external reviewers. Unfortunately some guides dont!

Thats it..! So end of stage 3.. Lets await the results :)