The festival of Pongal is celebrated today, usually by people of Tamil origin, which includes me. My earliest memories include in no particular order: sun & sun worship, cow & cow worship, the colour white, sugarcane, Kamal Hassan, venpongal & chakkaraipongal, a pile of ashes in front of each house, long holidays, special programs on TV, traffic-less Chennai, and Tamil the language.
Ever since I moved to Sweden I never got the chance to celebrate the festival in India, including this year. I do hope I get the chance to observe Pongal celebrations in India someday. #pongal #festival
Ever since I moved to Sweden I never got the chance to celebrate the festival in India, including this year. I do hope I get the chance to observe Pongal celebrations in India someday. #pongal #festival
I wanted a home feed for this blog, similar to social media feeds and yet keep the blog format for longform text. So I created two layouts, one called the "microblog" layout which doesn't have body but a yaml parameter that I called "gist". The other is the regular "post" layout from Jekyll. Turns out any post with only "gist" shows up empty in the RSS feed. Like, who would've thought!
One solution is to duplicate the gist content to body. But I'm quickly finding out is cumbersome. Other solution is to use body but apply character limit only to microblogs, as it should've been. #helloworld
One solution is to duplicate the gist content to body. But I'm quickly finding out is cumbersome. Other solution is to use body but apply character limit only to microblogs, as it should've been. #helloworld
The website rewrite has come along nicely with minimal duplication of content. I had to say "Books read" instead of "Books" to convey the true meaning of that tab.
#helloworld
Sapta Sagaradaache Ello - Side A
I knew for a while that this was critically acclaimed movie. On my flight from Chennai to Stockholm I started watching it. The first 20 minutes was a breath of fresh air. The makers have put in their effort and it was showing. The music and visuals were pleasing. I was rooting for the characters. But once I understood where the story was heading I couldn't bring myself to watch the rest of the movie. It was too close to reality, on a topic that was debated and enraged on social media to death. I had to force myself to watch it. Twice. After a while I got hooked to the ... #bookmark #movie
I knew for a while that this was critically acclaimed movie. On my flight from Chennai to Stockholm I started watching it. The first 20 minutes was a breath of fresh air. The makers have put in their effort and it was showing. The music and visuals were pleasing. I was rooting for the characters. But once I understood where the story was heading I couldn't bring myself to watch the rest of the movie. It was too close to reality, on a topic that was debated and enraged on social media to death. I had to force myself to watch it. Twice. After a while I got hooked to the ... #bookmark #movie
Arcane
This could've been a just-another-fantasy series. But the production quality, voice acting, animation, background music and world detail are so phenomenal that it makes the 2-season TV series one of the best ever in its category. The "elevation scenes" (action sequences, protagonist/antagonist introductions) are too good, goosebumps guaranteed. Indian commercial movies that rely on elevation should take note, this is how it is done. #bookmark #tv #holiday #festival
This could've been a just-another-fantasy series. But the production quality, voice acting, animation, background music and world detail are so phenomenal that it makes the 2-season TV series one of the best ever in its category. The "elevation scenes" (action sequences, protagonist/antagonist introductions) are too good, goosebumps guaranteed. Indian commercial movies that rely on elevation should take note, this is how it is done. #bookmark #tv #holiday #festival
A view of Liljeholmskajen taken from Årstabroarna. The gloomy, cloudy, cold, dark winters of Sweden are world famous. I am a fan. The trick is to never miss going out. The air is quite pure and cold weather is surprisingly good for health, unlike the misty, sultry and thick winters of India.
#picture #travel
#picture #travel
Roja took this picture. Doha International Airport has a tropical garden setup on one of their sections.
#travel #picture
Bluebox
The first manga I read was Akira 15 or so years ago. I read it only because the movie adaptation was in an IMDb list. I "properly" entered the world of manga when my kids were old enough to watch anime. One-Punch Man, Demon Slayer, One Piece are some of my favourites.
Blue Box is a high-school romance drama with a sports backdrop. It has likeable characters, an uplifting & moving story that is on equal parts emotional, romantic, tragic, heart-felt and motivational with a unique art style. I got hooked when I started watching it on Netflix with my daughters. Then I wanted more... #book #tv #manga #bookmark
The first manga I read was Akira 15 or so years ago. I read it only because the movie adaptation was in an IMDb list. I "properly" entered the world of manga when my kids were old enough to watch anime. One-Punch Man, Demon Slayer, One Piece are some of my favourites.
Blue Box is a high-school romance drama with a sports backdrop. It has likeable characters, an uplifting & moving story that is on equal parts emotional, romantic, tragic, heart-felt and motivational with a unique art style. I got hooked when I started watching it on Netflix with my daughters. Then I wanted more... #book #tv #manga #bookmark
2024 is coming to a close. Like every recent years, I start and end the year in Chennai. Workwise it wasn't great (though not a bad one). In a few months in my performance review I will know how bad it was. In other news, I turned 40 this year. The year I "found out" after years of f**king around, aka the year I got diagonsed as diabetic. I had my most number of travels for a year this year, which was cool. Didn't read/workout/socialize/talk/take the initiative/learn/play as much as I'd have liked to.
I'm hoping for a better 2025. I am especially looking forward to this journal journey #reflection
I'm hoping for a better 2025. I am especially looking forward to this journal journey #reflection
The annual Chennai Book Fair is in its 48th edition. It is the place to be if one is interested in classic, modern and neo-modern Tamil literature and poetry books. The English language book collection is so so. For discovering English books one should be outside the fair with the long row of book vendors on the footpath creating traffic chaos and selling used books at a flat rate from ₹20 onwards. No new books for me this year. I am still taking in batches the unread books in my old room to Stockholm.
The best part of being in Chennai in Week 52/+1. #tsundoku
The best part of being in Chennai in Week 52/+1. #tsundoku
Kamal Haasan's 70 favourite Indian movies
On 70th Indian Independence Day celebrations, Hindustan Times requested Kamal Haasan (big fan) to curate a list of his favourite 70 Indian films and why. For obvious reasons, the list is limited to movies released till 2017.
The article is lost probably in a website rewrite but wayback machine to the rescue. If wayback machine fails here is my local copy sans images. #movie #bookmark
On 70th Indian Independence Day celebrations, Hindustan Times requested Kamal Haasan (big fan) to curate a list of his favourite 70 Indian films and why. For obvious reasons, the list is limited to movies released till 2017.
The article is lost probably in a website rewrite but wayback machine to the rescue. If wayback machine fails here is my local copy sans images. #movie #bookmark
In 1997/98, on a randaom Sunday afternoon I was traveling from Chennai Broadway to Anna Nagar West on the city bus. I must've been 13 or 14 year old. A lazy lungi clad middle-aged man with an empty grocery bag boarded the bus. After a while he approached me and asked "is this the stop to Koyambedu?" (I would later find out that he was in the wrong bus). I had no clue but I nodded enthusiastically. He got down at Thirumangalam. As the bus left, I saw him looking around cluelessly trying to make sense of where he was. He was 1.5 km away from Koyambedu market.
I think about him sometimes. #intj
I think about him sometimes. #intj
Both Chennai and Madurai are thriving. Everyone is purchasing something or the other, busy commuting here and there, having a more "outside" lifestyle than I am used to. The past 20 years has seen a massive urban migration. Population with a morbid desire to buy property. But unfortunately both the cities' infrastructure is just not able to keep up with this level of hyper growth. The roads, water supply, electricity, sewage and garbage disposal are working barely, bursting through the seams. Madurai is paticularly bad.
But the most depressing part is the apathy. #boilingfrog
But the most depressing part is the apathy. #boilingfrog
Hello World! This is a shortform post. I redesigned the site to show "micro blogs" i.e. posts that has a character limit and has its entire contents on the home page itself. Here is an image Gemini generated for me.
#helloworld
Poor Charlie's Alamanack
The Stripe Mode of this book is something I have never seen before for a book. The pictures, quotes, sections are well designed and it _makes_ you want to read the book. The book itself is a treasure. Don't miss the recommended reading and the Berkshire Mode. #book #bookmark
The Stripe Mode of this book is something I have never seen before for a book. The pictures, quotes, sections are well designed and it _makes_ you want to read the book. The book itself is a treasure. Don't miss the recommended reading and the Berkshire Mode. #book #bookmark