Which is why it struck me like a bolt of lightning when I heard a Tamil song (gaana, kuthu.. whatever!) refer to a female as ‘eversilver thattu’. Eversilver thattu? Eversilver thattu? What sort of a pathetic, bumbling poet would compare a woman to a thattu? Eversilver, at that. Why not Aluminium? That might have made the song just perfect. *sigh*

“உன் அழகினைப் பாட என் தமிழ் மொழி போதாது..
நான் உவமைகள் சொன்னால் அது முழுமை என்றாகாது..” sang Karthik with emotion. Is that it? Is that the reason..? Should I just assume that we have run out of உவமைகள் instead of worrying myself sick about the state Tamil poetry has descended to? On the one hand, we complain about singers who butcher the language and make us wince at the lousy pronunciation.. but it’s not as if the songs we offer to them to sing are sheer poetry, right?

To my pessimistic eye, there is no question that Tamil poetry w.r.t movies is definitely declining. Songs like ‘காற்றின் மொழி’ are so few and far inbetween that we gulp them down like parched soil that has experienced a drizzle… A drizzle, not even a rain. *sigh*

A heart-wrenching tale of friendship, brotherhood, trust, loyalty, guilt and redemption, this novel begins as a flashback with the protagonist Amir living in America. We learn of Amir’s childhood in Kabul, where he lived with his father, his Baba jan. Their servant’s son Hassan is just about Amir’s age and the two kids grow up together having lost their mothers when they were still infants. Amir’s only playmate is Hassan, and the scenes of their childhood and the time they spend together are very vividly described.

Then, an extremely unfortunate incident happens which turns around Amir’s and Hassan’s lives. The political turmoil that Afghanistan goes through doesn’t help matters. Amir and his father flee the country and eventually settle down in the US. But Amir’s mind is far from at peace as guilt constantly gnaws his heart. Several years later, when an old family friend requests Amir to visit him, he decides to go back.. to seek redemption.

The Kite Runner is one of those extraordinary books where the words and pages slowly disappear and the scenes simply unfold before our eyes… one of those rare novels that draw you in completely and make you a part of the very story… one of the truly outstanding stories which make you forget that what you are reading and experiencing is just a piece of fiction…

Without doubt, Khaled Hosseini’s novel will move the hearts of its readers, as it did mine. For its brilliance arises from the simplicity of the plot and the emotions arise from the honest style of storytelling. It is this honesty that is so heart-wrenching.

Of the several reviews about this novel, nothing could have been more spot on than this one by The Times – ‘Hosseini is a truly gifted teller of tales… he’s not afraid to pull every string in your heart to make it sing’. Grab this book if you haven’t yet done so, it’s a highly recommended read.

The first challenge I had to face was, of course, the BSNL broadband connection I have at home. Awesome, to put it in one word. I only had to login. The logging out was automatically taken care of by BSNL, disconnecting at will every 10 mins. Struggling with the connection for several hours yesterday, my emotions ranging from pure fury to extreme despair, I experienced it all. Having been outsmarted by BSNL every time, I decided to prove I could do it, too, and I logged out myself! Ha!! <evil laughter>

Whenever BSNL was busy disconnecting someone else’s connection and let me be, for say 30 mins at a stretch, TNEB took over the responsibility. Every night, promptly, there is an electricity failure – usually lasting under 5 minutes and sometimes over 15 mins. Sweet.

And whenever, by a freak coincidence, BSNL and TNEB did let me work undisturbed, VPN entered the fray, apparently, trying to prove that it was equally adept at disconnecting. Once dc, even though the broadband connection was just fine (surprisingly!), VPN refused to let me log back on, saying that the ‘Remote peer is not responding’. Nice.

Ultimately, when fate managed to keep all the conspirators at bay and I had finally logged onto VPN and was actually working/talking to D on the official messenger Jabber, I suddenly realized that there was no response from D. Ah.. well, you guessed right – Jabber’s turn. *shrug* But Jabber was not as relentless as the others, it let me log right back in, though I missed several msgs in the process… *sigh*

Last night was particularly bad. I think I got disconnected at least 20 times…. Ummm, actually, you could actually make that 25, and I’ll give you the benefit of doubt. *sigh* D and I were discussing about assigning a piece of work to one of the team members… (or rather, we were trying to discuss it but fate willed otherwise). I got dc so many times and she kept trying to copy/paste her previous msgs every time, that she finally lost patience, and refused to copy/paste her previous msgs. Hmph!!

Well, the Airtel representative came over to my place a short while ago. I decided I have had enough and am switching connections… Please tell me Airtel isn’t half as bad.

Anyway, this is what triggered the stream of thoughts…

While commenting on the post of a fellow blogger, another blogger says “Career is life”. I found it so ridiculous that I actually laughed aloud. But the amusement was instantly replaced by sadness, at the thought of some people’s priorities… “Career is life”. Nice. So, what would family and friends be? What about dreams, desires, aspirations and goals a person might have…? What about interests and hobbies? Love might, of course, be a side issue. Happiness, I assume, is a non-issue. These concepts probably don’t even exist (or maybe don’t matter) in their world. *sigh*

Get me straight, I have nothing against hard-working people. I work hard, too. But beneath all that hard work, there’s love for what I do. And that’s what drives me. I hope people who kill themselves for their career know what they’re doing.

My only wish is that people stop occasionally, to take a deep breath and reassess their priorities… think about what they truly want in life and if they’re going the right way about doing it.