Uncategorized

Home > Uncategorized

The Original Angry Young Man

Many boys who went to school in Madras must've worn this costume for the "fancy-dress" competition at school. Draw on a mustache, wear your dad's wedding "reception" coat, memorize a couple of the poet's fiery verses, and you are all set! Outside of Tamil Nadu,...

Ursula K Le Guin

From an essay in Aeon magazine: "In her essay ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ (1986), Ursula K Le Guin challenged the hero’s journey – ‘the story the mammoth hunters told about bashing, thrusting, raping, killing’ – as not only narrowly masculine but also threatening humanity’s...

MS Blues

On the last day of school, no matter which city we lived in, we would be on the evening train to Madurai. The overnight train journey was always fun--but our annual destination--we were a little less excited about that. Madurai was my father’s hometown, and...

Goodbye, Pittsburgh

by Ramesh Mahadevan I have lived in Pittsburgh for almost an eternity. And now it is time to move on. In a matter of weeks, I will be relocating to the Denver/Boulder area. (look me up folks, I will be in a village called Louisville) I...

Tamil Paperbacks in New Orleans

If you want to be fluent in a language, experts say, you should briefly relocate to a place where the language is spoken. It will force you to find the words to interact with locals – this is the immersion method. Perhaps the reverse is...

Give, Eat, and Live

Thanks to the movie Iruvar -- I revisited this verse of Avvaiyar. ஆண்டு ஆண்டு தோறும் அழுது புரண்டாலும் மாண்டார் வருவரோ மாநிலத்தீர் வேண்டா நமக்கும் அது வழியே நாம்போம் அளவும் எமக்கு என் என்று இட்டு உண்டு இரும் . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWQ__mqY9RE Here is the book the verses are from.