I have had it. The last straw and all that. I am moving back to wordpress due to the enormous pain in the rear that typepad has become lately. I am done with the whole typepad loyalty thing. For a short while, I suspect that things will be tremulous, what... Continue reading

Is there any reason typepad has been consistently down during the (Indian) daytime and on during (Indian) nights for the past few days? Do others have this problem too? Note that the Indian daytime is approximately American Night time and vice versa and regions in between these two fall in... Continue reading

7.5 year old: Amma, Harry Potter is a kid, no? But he kissed Cho Chang on her mouth. ------------------- The best way to convert a favourite song to a hated song is to hear it as a ring tone . ------------------ Too much vacation can be exhausting, rather than stimulating.... Continue reading

ஊட்டுக்காரரின் கட்டுரை: சொல்வனம் இதழில் வெளியாகியிருக்கும் கட்டுரையை ஒரு மினி அறிமுகத்துடன் இங்கு மீள்பதிவாக்குகிறேன். ஈஸிசேரில் சாய்ந்தபடி நாளைக்கு இந்நேரம் நாற்பது வயதாகிவிடுமே, இவ்வுலகில் தங்கும் அவகாசத்தில் அநேகமாக பாதி முடிந்துவிட்டதே, தாத்தா வீடு, ராமாயணம், குஞ்சாலாடு, ஸ்ரீதேவி, திருட்டு தம், கிட்டார், மீன் வறுவல், இயற்பியல் என்று எதையுமே நாம் நினைத்தவகையில் அனுபவிக்கமுடியவில்லையே என்று கண்விழித்து சொப்பனம் கண்டு சற்றே அசர, ஜான் லெனனின் கிரானீ கிளாஸஸுடன் சாக்பீஸ்... Continue reading

வினாஸ காலே விபரீத புத்தி ! ட்யூடின் சமீபத்திய இடுக்கையைப் படித்ததில் மனதோரம் ஒரு ஏக்கம். மேலும் ஏதோ தேம்ஸ் நதியோரமாக பிறந்து வளர்ந்ததைப்போல் மகளுடம் தினம் தினம் பீட்டர் விடுகையில் தாய் மொழி மறந்துவிடுமோ என்று உள்ளூர ஒரு உதறல். இதையெல்லாம் தாண்டி, தமிழில் மூளையைக் கசக்கி பிழிந்தாலாவது அது முழித்துக்கொண்டு, வேலை செய்யுமோ என்ற ஒரு நப்பாசை. என்ன எழுத? அடுத்த வீட்டு பூனை பெண்பால் என்பது... Continue reading

Summer means many things to many people. To some, it is vacation. To some, travel. Others warmth. Heat, humidity, cousins visit, festivals, story books.... But if you were born and bred in the South of India, summer is synonymous to Mango. Every house (rapidly being replaced by multistorey apartment complexes... Continue reading

The kid has her own Kindle, heavens be praised. I get the android to myself finally. The saga of female authors continues. 1. Cleo Coyle: Through the Grinder After the third book in the Coffeehouse mystery series, what makes you continue to read the series is the curiosity of what... Continue reading

Typepad is driving me crazy today by not letting me use the full editor...especially on the day I want to upload photos. Resorting to post-by-email, an option I don't like. This post could wait until Typepad resolves the issue, or I get disgusted and move out to another blog site,... Continue reading

I am unable to open the full editor in typepad. I don't like this minimal editor. Anyone else with the same problem? Continue reading

Thaaramangalam is a little hamlet near Salem. The peace of the hamlet hides a spectacular temple for Lord Siva - Kailasanathar. Said to be built by a chiefton called Kettaya Mudaliyar, the scultptures mark many of the features of those of the Nayakkar clan of the sixteenth century, such as... Continue reading

..is all I can abstain from the internet, it seems. The vacation stupour is being slowly replaced by this nagging whisper of the one-word mantra somewhere at the rear of the brain - "deadline". I have been subdueing this voice with self-inflicted inertia, but the voice is getting stronger and... Continue reading

I am at the geometric centre of a much deserved vacation at Srirangam. My days are packed with eating and sleeping. As I lie in stupour, taking the enormous effort to digest the food, I occasionally wonder if I should write about the vacation, soon to be over-rided by the... Continue reading

"காபி சாப்பிடறேளா" ("Want coffee?") This is perhaps the most important hospitality question you would face as you enter a TamBram household. Thirty years back, it was insulting to even ask. As you sat on the "thinnai" of your host, the lady would send through her daughter, a "gooja" full of... Continue reading

I don't know if it would be a change for the better or worse. The optimist in me believes that nothing could be worse than the corruption of the past five years, but the realist is skeptical. The last time Ms. Jayalalitha was ousted in favour of Mr. Karunanidhi, I... Continue reading

Continue reading

சொல்வனம் எனும் தமிழ் இணயதள பத்திரிகையில் ட்யூட் எழுதும் ராகம்-தானம்-பல்லவி எனும் தொடர் கட்டுரையின் ஏழாவது பாகம் வெளியாகியுள்ளது. கர்னாடக சங்கீதத்தில் ஆர்வம் உள்ளோர் படித்து கருத்துக்களை பகருங்கள். The seventh part of the series on Ragam-thalam-pallavi that dude writes for an online Tamil magazine called "Solvanam" is out. Read it if you know Tamil and are interested... Continue reading

It seems that sun god is planning to make up for last year's leniency in our part of the world. The famed Tamil Agni Nakshatram or Kathri season begins tomorrow (4th, May) and the past few days have been a glorious preview of what to expect in the next fortnight.... Continue reading

Continue reading

Why would anyone want to paint the rear window of a vehicle with a grotesque image such as this? Ewww.. Continue reading

What follows is NOT a rhetoric but a genuine question. Your answer to this would help me in my job. When you are reading a semi-technical/technical document, when you read a sentence like the quote below, what would you feel? The sentence is this: "This XYZ model helps the manager... Continue reading

Looks like many people on my reader are answering the following questions. Might as well join the party. --- WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? The goddess of Friday. I was born on a Friday. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? When the kid was watching pocahontas and the song... Continue reading

...to my all my girl friends, especially SA and SI who have been with me through laughter and tears for the past thirty five years. Continue reading

At one point of time somewhere at the end of last year, it suddenly struck us. We don't have any more place to keep books. A new room was built in dude's childhood home, to include a wall-to-wall storage space, filled with books. My childhood home now has every free... Continue reading