Sudden Impact !

Earlier this evening, a small quake was felt around the Kazhakutam area.

It was so mild that I was in office and did not even realize what had happened. I felt (heard ?) something and guessed it was thunder (it was raining at the time). Later some folks reported it was a earthquake.

Small groups got together and discussed for a couple of minutes (referred to the breaking news on the Mathrubhumi web site) and then it was back to their respective desks and BAU (Business As Usual) !

A little bit of excitement on a Friday evening just before the weekend break !

Decent parties - Super hit block buster chalachitram ?

Have you ever wondered why every movie telecast on the Malayalam Television channels on weekends / primetime is always advertised as a super hit block buster movie?

The immediate provocation for this thought is something interesting that happened to us last weekend. We (wife, kid and self) had been to see a movie called "Decent Parties" starring Jagadish. In case you are wondering, the primary reason for narrowing down on this choice of movie was ease of parking in the theatre concerned! Also a couple of friends had indicated that Bhramaram (the competing choice) would be too scary for our daughter Nandu.

Arriving at the theatre (after leisurely parking the vehicle) I was pleasantly surprised to meet a friend (with family). Good I thought - they also favoured "Decent parties" - this ought to be a decent movie with some decent laughs at the least. However not too many Trivandrum-wasis seemed to share our opinion - there were only around two dozen folks in the hall when the show started. And the public opinion seemed to be right - the movie moved along at a laboured leisurely pace (like a TV serial) and soon half the people were dozing off.

Soon after the interval, the screen went blank - and stayed blank for over 10 ... 15 minutes. We were not sure whether we should feel irritated or relieved. Just as we were contemplating trooping off, the usher came in and asked everyone to move to the sister theatre where the rest of the movie would be shown. Half of the audience that had dozed off moved to the other theatre in search of better seats to settle in. The other half that had stayed awake decided to leave. We were in the latter category. Money lost, yet wiser for the lesson learnt we rushed back home!

I am sure that this movie is a candidate for a Super hit block buster chalachitram (movie) for Television in the coming months!

Mahabali @ Technopark

“Maybe Mahabali pays a visit only to Technopark these days” – the wife says to me tongue in cheek the other day.

To rewind … last week most of the Technopark companies celebrated Onam. There were Pookalam (Floral decorations) competitions, Melams (Drums), Sadhyas (Feast) and what not….

Every company has its turn – ours is usually the last in line. And may I add – it has the grandest (and loudest) celebrations of all. As usual the major highlights were the Pookalam competition and the Sadhya. We also had a Mahabali competition, a Pazhayam theetta (Banana eating) competition, a Chiri malsaram (laughter competition) and a grand Melam/Panchavadhyam accompanied by Theyyam, Kathakali and of course Puli Kali. The Pookalam competition was so fierce that some teams were practically up all night scheming their ‘designs’.

To come back to the quote above, this comment was made when I was describing in vivid detail the happenings last Friday. You know what? Maybe she is right – this was the first time in years that I have seen a live performance of Theyyam and Pulikali. These days Onam to most people signifies little more than a sumptuous feast (many a time a parcel feast ordered from hotels) and a host of programmes on TV (usually watching programmes of past winners of ‘idol’ competitions singing film songs, ‘latest super hit’ movies of ageing super stars and satire programmes with Mahabali (with way too much make up on) as the central character). How many people put Pookalam for 10 days? How many kids these days know about Thrikakarappan? (Why is that funny piece of wood sticking out of the floral arrangement, dude?!!?)

In this cyber age, every sport / celebration has to reinvent itself to survive. Cricket for instance first transformed itself from Nirma whites to pyjama cricket, today we have the ‘Twenty-Twenty’ avatar. It is admirable that while many aspects of Onam have now become commercialised, (case in point - the explosion of jewellery, clothing and consumer electronics ‘offers’) the techies of TVM remember Mahabali and celebrate his yearly visit in their own unique (traditional) fashion.

Long live the technopark Mavelis!

Onashamshakal ! And peace to one and all…..