Indian TV shows back in the day.. (90s)

The Indian television media in recent times has become very pathetic. They are focused only on making money in the easy and fast way. No preference given to shows which could impart knowledge and provide a pleasant viewing experience.  I went through a listing through some regional and national TV channels to see what kind of good innovative programs they offer and it was not at all surprising that almost entire line up was a spin off of the American or European version of the same show. American idol is Indian Idol, Who wants to be a millionaire is Kaun banega crorepathi, big brother is big boss etc…

If national TV was like this, the regional language channels are even worse. All the Suns, geminis , vijays.. all channels are so engrossed in telecasting Mega serials with story lines about illicit relationships and revenge within families. None of the serials have a positive outlook at all.

Where has the creativity gone? Why are there no genuinely Indian made shows which are good, where are our creative minds... Why do we have to wait for USA to make a innovative show and then copy it ?

There used to be some genuinely creative shows back in the day. Everything got lost somewhere down the line.  

Here’s some of the awesome shows I’ve seen on Indian television.

It would contain a lot of regional shows as well.

11.      Aalif Laila

It was a show based on the stories of the Arabian nights. It was a Sunday morning treat. The show had a very simple premise of story telling and it was executed very well with limited technology and simple graphics. The show might seem funny now, when you see all ancient graphics, but it was quite the sensation to watch in my childhood.

22.       Chandrakantha

This was an ancient king time show with sorcery, magic and romance. This show also was a Sunday morning extravaganza for me. There was a time when I could sing the entire title song of chandrakantha. I hardly remember the synopsis of the show but it was a creative one for sure.

33.       Maharabaratha

It’s probably one of the most run TV shows in Indian history. The creators of the show were geniuses. Converting an epic into a television show is not a simple task. they also had the best intro for any show during that time. The old sage’s voice over with a outline of his body and a spinning chakra, that time was a breathtaking shot in Television.

The plot is a big one..the Indian Epic by the same name was it’s plot, enough said.

44.       Ramany vs Ramany

A Tamil comedy based on a newly married couple and the problems they face in day to day life with their parents, relatives and work. It was one of the most hilarious tamil comedies in tv. Simple, sweet and funny is how I’d describe this show.

55.       Kaialavu manasu

A emotional drama featuring a middle class family and their lives after a tragedy. I remember it being a start off for many of the current stars in cinema such as Prakash raj. I remember a scene from this show where the youngest daughter of the family is given up for adoption and she’s asked to sing a song, the daughter doesn’t know she’s going to go and she sings beautifully, the mother who watches it cries uncontrollably and refuses the adoption.

66.       Surabhi

An Indian cultural show, which featured different artists and musicians from all around India. The show also showcased a lot of Indian arts, customs and cultures which were largely unknown to the world. It was a good video magazine to know about Indian cultural influences.

77.       Marma Desam

The best Tamil TV show I’ve seen by far. The show was a brilliant thriller.  It featured good characters who brought the mysterious feel to the show all through it. Each episode used to have a startling intro and a even more gripping end. The title song gave quite the scare to me, when ever I watched the show. I used to avoid watching the title for a while, as the dog in it, came in my dreams.

P.s. the video clip is from the Telugu version of the same show, i couldn't a working Tamil version clip.

The marma desam later evolved into a series and it had about 6 seasons with different themes. One of the marma desam series, “vidathu Karupu” deserves a special mention.

The show had the horror thriller feel to it, it was also one of the most viewed TV show of that time. It used to be very mysterious, everyone in my family used to try predicting the turn of events in the show. My dad guessed it all correctly. I didn’t get much chance.

8. Jungle book

this was just a cartoon series not a TV show, but it was one of my childhood favorites, so it gets a spot.

if you didn't watch jungle book in 1990s as a Kid, you really have missed something in your life.

This is just the shows that came to my mind from top of my head. there were a plenty more.  I might post some of the others in later posts.

Courtesy :  All clips are from YouTube. I do not own any of the clips featured in this blog. 

chef-d'oeuvre of Food !

I have been an avid foodie for my entire life and it's really surprising that i am writing my first post on food only now. I am a "Live to Eat" person, although for a long time, i looked like i could "Eat more to live". we can't really put a time stamp on how long we have been eating food, since it's the only way our body gets nutrition, but the variety of foods that we consume has evolved a lot over years. In fact, we first start consuming food directly to our stomach and later, start with our mouths.

so talking about evolution of food, I've had so much diversity in foods, from mother's milk as a tiny baby to the egg omelet i ate for breakfast today morning. there's a enormous variety of foods i have come across, I've even learnt to cook for myself (that's been about 8 years now !!), and enjoyed a lot of different cuisines back home and in USA. here are some of my food favorites, in order of the time they are eaten in a day.

1. Coffee and Milk go together best, when made with Indian coffee powder. All other coffee powders from places like Brazil, Colombia are good only as black coffee.(chicory does the trick)
2. During school and college days, when i had idli, dosa ready for breakfast, i used to skip it most times. but now, when you have to stick to a bread and omelet or pancakes, you end up craving for such good foods in the morning.
3. Pongal, is probably the best breakfast to have, closely followed by Dosa. esp. with sambar and coconut chutney.
4. The only thing i miss about attending Indian weddings, is the umpteen number of items on a enormous banana leaf.A normal hindu wedding, a complete vegetarian bliss has a list like this... pickle, sweet, avial, poriyal, applam, vadai, kootu,pulav, plain rice, sambar, kara-kulambu,  rasam, curd( i skip it), payasam. A typical Indian christian marriage is a mixed combination and would have item list that goes like pickle, sweet, poriyal, karthrika kootu,thayir pachadi,  appalam, dry chicken curry, lamb biryani, plain rice, chicken kulambu, payasam.A Muslim marriage is a complete meat fest with list like chicken drumstick, thayir pachadi chicken fry, chicken biryani, lamb biryani, plain rice, chicken kulambu, lamb gravy, lamb soup, and occasional sweet. (writing about all these dishes makes me drool, I want to attend a wedding somewhere soon).
5. Dhal/Sambar has a potent magic in it, you hate the food first when it's eaten in a routinely manner. but after a lot of meat for quite a long time, one day you have sambar. it feels like the greatest food ever.
6. Sea foods are hands down, the  best of Non-Vegetarian items. best of sea foods is the Fish. a well made fish is excellent in any type of cuisine. best fish is the Vanjaram (not able to find it in USA till now, sad face) closely followed by salmon. Shrimps, prawns and scallops make the united 2nd place.
7. Sushi is probably my least preferred option of eating fish, but i had a rare occasion where i ate a lot of different types of sushi for almost 1.5 hours at a sushi bar.
8. Indo-Chinese food (Indian way of making Chinese food) is tastes much better than the actual Chinese food. 
9. The best of American cuisine is the Steak. if you eat Beef, then you'd definitely agree. I've had the opportunity only to try the sirloin and T-bone Steak, but would like to try them all. 
10. Mexican foods like burritos, tacos and chalupas have become a staple of my weekly foods, they are cheap to get and taste very good. 
11. most of the times, i get confused between French and Italian cuisine. for some reason, i find both to be similar, when they are not. french cuisine has really fancy names, their sweet dishes seemed great, not the same with the savory. whereas Italian, has really good savory dishes. I hope you know about pizza and pasta.
12. I found Middle eastern cuisine to be the small brother of Indian cuisine with pretty similar taste and spices. some of the best Road side Diner foods are shwarma, gyros and kebabs.
13. Traditional Indian sweets never had Chocolate as one of their ingredients, i wonder how sweets would have been, if chocolate was introduced a lot earlier in India.
14. speaking of Indian sweets, each state has a unique variety of sweets, each and every single one tastes of heaven. my favorite is the Mysore pak (esp. hot, right of the cooking vessel)and gulab jamun.
15. Western Desserts are not so far behind, and heavily indulge on chocolate for me. cos, i hate strawberries(which is the predominant fruit in desserts here). Chocolate delicacies includes Cakes, puddings, donuts, ice cream, milk shakes etc...
16. Butterscotch is the only flavor of ice cream, i might choose if there's no chocolate flavor available.
17. A good meal is not complete without a drink. I've been a quite a aesthete of global drinks, the french wines, Russian vodka, Scottish whiskey, Mexican tequila and German beers. I am not a big fan of wine, but certainly can manage the other global commodities.

Twenty Six on 26th.

It’s my 26^th Birthday and here are Twenty six things I like, love and relish.  They are generic, crazy, weird and childish in no particular order.

1.       Rasam - Best food ever, any day anytime. . Esp. Mom Made.

2.       Sounds... Not Music.  I like listening to different kinds of sounds, rhythms, beats, I find it very interesting.

3.       Photography - I see beauty all around, and it’s a beautiful medium to express what you see.

4.       Blogs – I read, write and enjoy them.  Blogs are the source of interesting news, views and comments. It’s a lot better than sensational news.

5.       Sarcasm – I get dumbfounded with sarcasm, I really can’t get it. Not bad as Sheldon, I can talk sarcastically.

6.       Conversation – I like to talk about anything, everything. Sometimes forget to care if the other person is interested in it.

7.       Cooking –especially experimental cooking, love to try new foods too.

8.       Painting – not the type you do on a canvas, I like to paint walls, windows etc... I have a wish to paint an entire house.

9.       Patterns – I see patterns in everything around me, every single event is connected to another by some pattern or another. It’s sort of an obsession for me.

10.   Twists - movies, books, TV series, anywhere they have a twist in the story. I just love it.

11.   Software – I like learning to work a new application, software... Not the coding part... I don’t understand computer coding.

12.   Driving – An enthusiasm for driving the car, not to race. The subconscious driving-  It’s a pleasure in itself, going on the road, turning, accelerating, slowing and stopping, all in swift motion, without really giving your full attention to it.

13.   Writing – I like writing something or other... Although I guess I am still an amateur writer, one day I wish to publish a book.

14.   Helping hand– basically helping people. I can never say NO to anyone. I do enjoy helping people, at times go out of the way to help them even when some people take advantage of me.

15.   Resourcefulness - I have come to consider that my biggest skill might be resourcefulness; I can provide an answer to almost every question asked me. It’s not like I know everything. I just know how to link things together to find it.

16.   ZOOs/Aquariums – I like going to a zoo, it’s where I can see different animals, even if it’s not their natural environment, it’s the only place I can see them without any hassle.

17.   Walking – it’s sort of like a family trait. I prefer walking to places at short distances sometimes even longer distances than taking the car. It’s always a good feeling when I walk.

18.    Walking in the Rain – this is a special once in a while thing. When I feel like walking in rain, I just do it, other times I hate getting wet in rain. Wonder why.

19.   Balloons – Call me childish, but I have a fascination about balloons, esp. variety of colors. I bring them home when I get one.

20.   Puzzles, cross words, word search – enjoy them, once started; I cannot stop without completing it.

21.   Experimentation – I find it intriguing to perform “try at home” sort of physical, chemical and social experimentation apart from cooking, it’s a good hobby, inspired from myth busters.

22.   Twins – for various reasons, I sort of have craze towards Identical twins… movies, TV shows or real life, when I see twins. I get excited.

23.   Visual Media – I follow 10 different TV shows and at least 3 movies in a 7 day week. Visual media is the best form of entertainment.

24.   Technology – I am in awe of today’s technology. If I had a chance, I’d buy them all and try it out.

25.   Cars – like any other man, I too love cars. One day I want to build a car from scratch.

26.   Sleep – who doesn’t love sleeping..?

The Career that could have been...

Ever  had  people saying stuff  to you like, ‘you would have been perfect in  a ” X” job, that’s a perfect profession for your skills, interests and passion, why don’t you try to pursue that instead of sitting in that dumb job of yours..!!’ I am sure most of you did come across this type of people and their talks.

I am not saying they are being wrong to say those things, it could be true that some of your innate skills may suit another career better than the one you have now, but this kind of talk by certain people slams a thought into your mind, whether you chose the right profession/ career, even if you were feeling happy about your current job, you still wonder how it would be with a different career.

Well I have been there, done that and here’s my list of jobs that some of my friends, family, relatives and acquaintances thought that I would have excelled. Of course, just for fun… I have rated them out of ten, with my view of why or how well I would have fared in that career in reality.

Here we go.

1.      Lawyer

According to movies and TV shows, it’s probably the next best thing to a cop or spy. The reason why some people told me, I should have become a lawyer is simply because I argue a lot and occasionally catch some valuable points, which others over look in a conversation.  I can imagine myself as a lawyer, at least like the ones I see on TV, wearing a super fit suit to court, flirting with fellow female lawyers, lady judges and not to mention, some detective work on the side on my cases and find out the real criminal in the last moment and free the innocent.

Rating on reality 4/10

Why: BAR exams, it’s not about the content to learn; it’s just that I generally suck in exams.

2.      Radio Jockey (RJ)

This is also a very cool profession. RJs in general are sort of hipsters who talk about all sorts of crap on radio and get away with. All you need is a good voice – Check. And ability to talk nonstop nonsense (double check). Why people thought I could be an RJ, it’s only because I can create controversies in matter of sentences (people love getting me beaten up) and obviously the efficiency to talk a lot of crap.

Rating on reality – 7/10

why : I had a shot at this career once way back in college, did auditions for radio one FM in Chennai and made it till the 3^rd round, unfortunately, I wasn’t good enough to make it on Air.. Sigh..!

3.      Journalist

This is the career that makes a serious impact on the general public, if done correctly. You could take a simple cause and make it a raging debate among people, or just squish a big issue with your pen and paper. I am actually thankful, that some of my friends even thought I could be a journalist, they thought I had a good general knowledge, a social outlook and a firm point of view, which are some important characteristics of a journalist.

Rating on Reality: 8/10

Why:  I admire people who are good journalists, the minds that portray the news are greater than the ones who make it, since it’s these minds that take an event and make it a history. I would like to be a part of that circle of people too, someday... Someway..!

4.       Writer/screen writer :

Realistically, this is a very good career for me. I have interest in writing and I enjoy telling stories. In fact a lot of my conversations involve me telling a fictional story as an example to help others understand the matter better. I can cook up stories in a jiffy and make them quite convincing with time. This is why, the suggestion.

Rating on Reality: 9/10

Why: I have the intent to write a book, but my experiences are not enough to finish what I want to write. This is a career, I am sure I could be successful. Maybe someday, I will write a best seller which eventually will be made into a movie, or maybe directly write for a movie.

5.       Administrator/Leader/Politician?

Basically, a position of power, responsibility, risks and decision making. This is career suggestion had mixed reviews from different people, some thought I was a natural leader and others thought I sucked at it, well. Some thought I was a very good manager while others thought was I was too much in control and a tyrant who says “it’s not my job”. It’s like any leadership position;

Rating on Reality 7/10

Why: I personally like assuming responsibility, taking decisions and handling risks, but in order to be a good leader, you need good subordinates to trust your decisions and follow it.

6.       Teacher:

A Profession suggested to me by many of my teachers. An honor, I would say. I remember well, a teacher telling me, you have a good sense of knowledge, patience and the teaching skills required to become a great teacher someday. He also said being me left handed helped more, as writing  left handed on the board was easier for children to follow. It is a valued profession, but by the way we as students treated teachers these days. I wonder if I would want to be one.

Rating on Reality: 9/10

Why: I can easily see myself being a teacher, I come from a family of teachers too, and both sides of my grandparents and a lot of my relatives are teachers. I have taught a lot of my friends in class, before exams and elsewhere on different topics.  So I am a teacher in life, if not by profession.

  

Some career predictions that may never come true.

·         It was immediately after I completed high school, a famous astrologer predicted that I would become a doctor, and I should choose surgery as my specialization. I haven’t even gotten close to a medical facility still now.

·         My finger are long and slender for relatively small hands, some predicted that I will become a famous painter. It could be true, I haven’t really tried my hand at painting, although, I draw really well, if I put my heart and mind to it.

·         A quite a few, thought I would become a good left arm spinner and a one down batsman in cricket, but I really didn’t get that bright to be even recognized as a player in street cricket.

·         Apparently, I have a very convincing phone voice, so one friend of mine, said I’d become a very successful call center employee or a phone sex operator... :P

What do you think?

Would I make a hiring cut in any of the above professions?

My Ambitious Post !!

Its 11 days into 2012, well if Mayans had it right, we’d have exactly 1 year to live on this planet (the D day is dec 21^st.. duh) . I do not believe that world might end in 2012, but that doesn’t give me an excuse to think about what I might need to accomplish, given that after 1 year from today, I would not have a planet. Unless I am superman who escapes from krypton as a baby, I would have no home.

Just for fun on a serious note, I thought of some things I might want to accomplish in this 1 year of time and wanted to share it with all of you. Who knows some of you may be playing a part in this quest of mine. Ok so here it goes…

1. Get in touch with all of my friends, whom I haven’t really been in contact or at least sort them out.

This one is straight out of the box, there’s almost 4 different phases of life I have been thru… school, college, USA, University, job. and had different set of friends in each of the phase. It’s come to a point where I get super confused relating to a friend. I met this school friend recently, he was talking of a lot of people from my 12^th STD, and I had no clue who’s who just with names. Esp. some generic Indian names, I have a friend each in every phase. Although, some of the faces had really stuck in my memory like a crush or gorgeous looks, I couldn’t figure out what their name was. This is a good thing to start off, sort out friends thro face book, get in touch with some old friends, and know about what’s happened in their life in this long gap. Who knows at my age, many of them might be married with kids too.

2. Stay away from Internet a.k.a Go outside and spend some time.

This one is tough, it’s horrendous actually. I don’t know how it’s like outside of USA, but here, Internet is like food, you can survive without it but barely. There are times, where you look it up online for outside weather instead of looking out the window. You can easily sit in a single place for a whole day and know, learn and do all the stuff in the world. Which I have done quite a lot in last 3 years. So this year, I want to go out do a lot of outdoor activities and spend less time on the Net and lesser time on facebook. It’s a tough deal but I hope I can pull it off.

3. Move a bit toward the crazier side

I have always been a bit conservative in terms of enjoyment and mischief, my frequency to night clubs, parties, getting drunk shitfaced, sleeping around, smoking etc is very less, close to a finger count, till now. In short, I am not living on the edge. Well, I am responsible enough to know I might trip and fall off the edge some time, but supposedly that’s not cool enough. So I thought maybe this is the year to show off that I could also be a bit on the crazier side. I will try, but this one I can’t guarantee that I will succeed.

4. Make an impact

I know for a fact that I have some talent, I am very resourceful, creative and a sharp intuitive learner who can create a big change. But I am just not applying it properly in my path of life and probably wasting my time. This year should be the year where I impact big, if not in a big level, at least the people around me, should know the value of me through my talents.

5. Relationships, dating… etc…

This one is a lot tougher than any of the stuff on my list. Even staying away from the Internet could be a piece of cake compared to this. So why is it tough, you might ask, well... currently, there’s NO girl in my life, which’s even slightly tilted towards a romantic angle. Added to it, all of the ones I know are either dating, committed, engaged, married or have kids.

Meeting a new girl is even worse, cos with just a Hi, they immediately think that every single guy is the next in line to hit on them. So when making friends has this silly issue, how to move forward looking for a relationship… so as I see it. You can’t try to cross a bridge, which doesn’t exist.

In spite of all the negativity in my words, I am still confident, 2012 is the year, I find the Right one.

Anyways, I hope I have a good 2012 ahead, Mayan theory or not, I have to live through 365 days of this year. So I will try to relish each day as if it was my first day of the rest of my life.

For the Greater Evil Part-2

This post continues from where I left off in the first post… as a recap, the fight between good and evil has been portrayed in all forms known to man and throughout history there were incidents and people whom were seen as good but were really evil. So here’s the second part.

1. Bible - Moses spends 40 days and nights in mount sinai to get the 'ten commandments' from god, only to break them after watching his tribe worship a calf and behaving unruly like hippies, so he orders the killing of 3000 people who were involved. wait, wasn't that ten commandments supposed to help the unruly people to lead a good life? why kill them instead of giving the commandments to them?

2. Present day Genocides: The same American govt, who condemned the genocide and supported relief movements in Darfur, Sudan, has not opened its mouth on a same genocide of people in Sri Lanka. So even human life is valued only in places of interest.

3. Caste System in India: The priests and monks who spent all their lives reading Vedas, preaching chants, and doing duties to god’s statue all day inside a big temple were considered the highest caste, Told the lowest caste of the Farmers, who spent their entire day out in hot sun, working in mud and rain to cultivate crops and provide food to everyone to stay outside of the temples as they would disrupt the sanctity of it. Wasn’t helping others considered godliness?

4. Mahatma Gandhi: Gandhi protested against racism, when he was thrown out of a train compartment in South Africa. It was about giving separate rights to brown people (Indians) so they are not mixed or misidentified with black people. So wasn’t that Racist anyway?

5. Opposition politicians (any country) : Posing as a “Do Gooder” by exposing corruption in the ruling government, when all they want to do is the same corruption once they get power.

6. Religion: the ultimate power that controls people in the name of God, created to do good to people under a common faith, but a much greater evil in showing hatred toward another faith.

there’s a lot more history out there which I have not touched in these two posts. these are only a few examples put together to tells a message...!

There’s no pure good or evil.. there’s always impurities within both. It only depends on the degree to which you become impure, that makes us either of the two.

As Always, Likes and comments, dislikes and critic accepted..!

En intha Kolaveri di (why this kolaveri - tamil translation)

I have attempted to translate the english words in the song to day to day tamil in sync with the tune..

Comments and criticism appreciated..!

Pasangale, naan paatu padren

Rasam paatu

Uthikita paatu

En intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

En intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

shruti seri

En intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

apadiye irukatum

En intha kolaveri..di

Thoorathila la nilavu nilavu

nilavin neramo velupu

velai nirathu iravu iravu

iravin niramo karupu

en intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

en intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

vellai meni-ponnu ponnu

ponnin nenjo karupu

kannum kannum pathu pathu

varumkalam irundu pochu

En intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

En intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

maama kuripu eduthuko

apdiye kaila vathiyam eduthuko

pa pa paan pa pa paan pa pa paa pa pa paan

sariya vaasi

nallathu maama

arambikalam 1 2 3 4

aaha ena oru maatram maama

seri maama ipo ragam matram

handla glass

tamil matrume...

kaila kinnam

Kinathil baanam

Kannula valiyuthu neer u

Galiyana valkai

Ponnu vandhu

Valkai pinnai pochu

Kadhal kadhal

Oh en kadhal

Nee katite maavu

Maadu maadu paasu maadu

Ipo nee inga venum

Kadavule naan ingu sagirene

Ava magilchiya epadi

Intha paatu rasa pasangalukaga

Nammaku ille vaipu

En intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

En intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

En intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

En intha kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

---------------

Terms:

Rasam - South indian SOUP