Ek gaon mein ek kissan raghu thatha

The above sentence or rather dialogue is from a 1981 Tamil movie “Indru poi Naalai Va”(Go today, Come tomorrow), directed by K. Bhagyaraj. For those who have heard this dialogue earlier, they can directly relate it to “Tamilians” and “Hindi”.

Along with it, there is also a common complaint or rather assumption that “Tamilians” in particular are reluctant towards Hindi and sometimes even hate the language.  As I’ve spent majority of my days in “Tamil Nadu” (as of now J ), I feel that I can try and comment on this.

Ok, I’m not going to argue the same old facts that Sanskrit & Hindi came from Persia & Arabic and Tamil is the oldest Dravidian language etc.,  This is a different script and screenplay.

To put forward my points clearly, let me start with history..

The only state or province in India from ancient times, that was not ruled or not much impacted by Mughals, Nizam, Mauryans or simply “any kind of Hindi" speaking empires – is the modern day Tamil Nadu, then called “Thamizhagam”.

The Chera’s, Chozha’s & Pandiya’s ruled most of this area & for long. The Vijayanagara empire’s rule for 2 centuries (1370 to 1565) and the Nizam of Hyderabad & Nawab of Carnatic’s rule during 18^th century (supported by French & English) did not impact at all, as there were continuous rebels and oppositions from within the province. Other south states like Kerala, Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh had impacts from Middle-east trades, Mauryan empires & Nizams respectively.

The point made here is that no form of Hindi ever dominated or even entered Tamil Nadu. It was always seen as a foreign language.

During independence, it was calculated that 41% of India spoke or used some kind of Hindi, and in a hurry to have one national language, an order was passed that Hindi (in Devanagiri script) should be mandatory in all states and become the official language within 15 years of independence. English was allowed as an official language in the interim until 1965.

This led to a major protest from those areas where people have never pronounced a single Hindi word. And South Indian scripts are totally different to the Devanagiri script. You too will agree that nobody will like a foreign language to be made official in their state.

I’m not supporting this protest from the angle of blocking Hindi, but totally disagree with the 15 years’ time frame for an entire state to adopt a foreign language as official language and be proficient in it (And that too – to replace a local language which is arguably older & rightful than Sanskrit..!!) and also with the way it was handled.

This protest was led by Mr Annadurai (former CM of Tamil Nadu) supported by other South Indian states & even few supporters from West Bengal – requesting continuance of English as second official language. Major achievements of this protest were 1) continuance of English as the second official language and 2) conducting public services exam in all regional languages.

This also meant that Hindi could not be declared as the national language of India. So what if India doesn’t have a national language? Even the United States of America doesn’t have one..!

Actually, If not for Mr Anna and team, we wouldn’t have been able to market ourselves well enough to grab the I.T advantage ahead of China & other such countries. (I mean – we would have spoken English anyways, but not as good as today when it is an official language).

The political parties in TN who came to rule later, used this protest as a weapon to gather quick votes, and simply aggravated the emotions of innocent people by provoking them against the language.

Even now, one must accept that the impacts of those protests do exist. With India being largely & falsely represented by Bollywood & Cricket alone, the bias continues in the minds of many.

And to include, those reality shows on TV which are focussed on Hindi & Bollywood, but use the term "India", like India's best singer, India's best dancer etc., These only add up the irritation.  (Tamil & Malayalam channels also have reality shows and they use terms such as "Tamil Nadu's voice hunt", "Kerala's super singer" etc.,).

Also, In January 2010, Gujarat High court (bench headed by Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhya) gave decision against 'issuing directions that packaged commodities must contain details about goods in Hindi'.

So, no Indian citizen is under a compulsion to know or learn Hindi as such. It purely depends on the person, his/her mother tongue and his/her interest.

I’m not quoting the above as a justification or excuse for a Tamilian to not know Hindi – but just to help some people understand what it means on a bigger picture. If you come across an Indian who cannot understand Hindi, he/she cannot be blamed. On the other hand, if that person struggles in a place without knowing Hindi – it is their own fault, to not to have shown interest in learning it. The same applies for other languages also.

And whether you learn or not, every language has it's history & culture and must be respected.

Going forward, these kinds of arguments and issues will only divide India (further!). Being a secular country, just like how we don’t force any religion on others, language should also not be forced.

As we are hyper active in the global job & trade market, it is better to adopt English as a common language (where we are able to market our products & services efficiently), while we use our respective regional languages in our day-to-day life. Try to practice this and the south-north differences will vanish by itself.

I know that this blog is already late by 10-15 years, but hopeful that it is never late enough to change the perception of few people.

Till then, long live raghu thatha..!

And yes -my usual routine of explanation of Tamil words used in the blog:

The title dialogue is from a scene in a Tamil movie, where a guy visits the girl's house to learn Hindi from her brother in an attempt to woo her, but fails to pronounce it properly...! Rehtha tha becomes Raghu thatha, where, Thatha in Tamil means Grandfather..!  

How to photograph the moon with DSLR

Hello Good people,

One of the things I always admire since my childhood is that white little coin that appears in the sky at night, which becomes smaller and smaller and suddenly disappears. Back then, I always thought it would be very easy to take a photo of the moon. Although I never tried even once then.

Now that I got myself a DSLR camera, and a decent enough zoom to support it, I was more than interested in clicking a few pictures of the moon. Only then I found out that it is not as simple as it looks like.

To begin with, this is how a moon appears in your dslr camera when you click it in the normal way. This could be due to several reasons.

 

 

Right, so what are the setting required to be made ? Let's look at some basic questions that would come out, first.

 



Firstly, I see a bigger moon in the sky, but when I take a picture, I see a smaller image. Why ? You would have been using a wide angle lens that covers plenty of space on screen where the moon is made to look smaller. Try to use zooming lens like a 300mm or 400mm, and you would definitely see a larger image.

 

In the above picture, you just see a white circle , but in reality the moon looks a lot different. How come ?

That is because the moon was over exposed, and it is very common during the night. We can cover it up using the setting discussed below.

 

Ok, so what are the settings required ?

 

Firstly, put the camera into "Manual" mode.. this is the tougher option in the camera, but you can play around with it very well.

 

Then increase the ISO to 200 or 400 depending on the light availability. More dark it is more you will want to increase the ISO.

 

Set the aperture level to f/11. Smaller aperture levels will soften the image and larger aperture levels will reduce the shutter speed. Shutter speed is very important, because the moon keeps moving at a good speed and higher shutter speed helps in capturing more sharper images. I would suggest to stay above 1/125.

 

These are the main settings that are required and one can play around with the numbers to get a suitable combination. So, after applying these settings, below is how the moon looked.. (the above moon, on the same day, after a few hours)

 

 

 

And here is another, taken 19 days later..

 

 

 



Just to let you know, these are all raw pictures. I haven't yet tried using adobe photoshop elements.

 

And the below one again is a sepia kind of an image with extra lighting..

 

 

 

So, you can see, you can indeed click a variety of shots of the moon once you understand the technicalities behind it. A little bit of physics involved.. but this is much better than the physics that we all had at school.

 

 

Below is a picture that I tried during the day time, that is, before sunset. This is a bit easier as there is adequate lighting.

 



 

 

I must admit I did do lot of researches in google, reading photography related blogs and articles. this happened between the first and second photo on this blog, and you already see a good enough difference.

 

One of the blogs that helped me a lot and gave a lot of information about moon photograph was from Mr. Nasim Mansurov. Here is the link to his blog : http://photographylife.com/how-to-photograph-moon

 

I haven't however, yet, tried to take photo of the moon with foreground objects like a landscape or buildings etc., I'm yet to find a good enough location for that.

 

Nonetheless, It's always a good feeling to see the moon, and even more, to take photo of the moon.

 

Now then, imagine about keeping a foot on the moon..  And this is what Mr. Neil Armstrong had to say after landing on the moon

 

"That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind"

 

 

Rightly so..!

 

It's been 3 months that Mr. Neil Armstrong passed way.. and I would like to dedicate this blog to him.. RIP.

 





Go Kruger.. Go Wild..!!

Hey Good people..

This time, I would like to share my wild life experience with you. We had been to Kruger National Park during the last weekend, for a period of 3N 4D. It was a wild 4 days..! In a way, this is a sequel to my earlier blog on KNP. In case you have not read it, you can click here. And to know more about Kruger, pls. click here.

My fellow South African team mates always use to tell me that the best time to visit Kruger is September / October, when spring arrives.  So, I started planning the trip in July. After much research work on the places to stay, dates to visit, weather forecast and availability of accommodation, we narrowed down on 3 places – Pretoriouskop, Satara and Crocodile Bridge. The plan was to stay one night at each of these camps and travel around them during the day, such that the entire south part of Kruger is covered.

We left at around 7 am on a Saturday and reached Kruger (Malelane gate) by 12 pm, after a smooth road experience, only to listen to shocking news from the gate keeper - It had rained in Kruger throughout last night, and so all the gravel roads were closed for public that day. That was disappointing, because, there are more chances of spotting wild life when driving on gravel roads as these roads cut into the forest and animals are not scared to walk across the roads.

But, as I started driving inside, within 2 minutes, two huge Black Rhino’s were standing by the road side.. yes.. alongside the Tar road. That was a good enough motivation and what followed was 4 extra-ordinary days of wild life adventure. Here are some pictures..

The climate was very dull and cloudy all day, and drizzling most of the times. Hence photography was challenge , with the lack of sunlight.

First of all, the famous African BIG 5. The first question asked by anyone is.. “you went to Kruger ? Did you see BIG 5 ?  The answer is “ YES”.

Below are the famous BIG 5 of Africa… (Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Wild Buffalo & Rhino)

This time, we spotted the Big 5 quite easily.  On Monday, when I was driving from Satara to Crocodile camp, we saw more than 50 different elephants on the way in small and big herds.

 Lion – We spotted a lion / Lioness , each day of our stay. Totally 6 times, one of them being a remarkably scary experience.  On Sunday evening, as we were reaching our camp, we noticed that we had 1 hour time before the camp gates close. So, we decided to take an infamous gravel road (Gravel roads were open on Sunday) that takes us directly to the camp. After 20 minutes of boring driving seeing Deers and Giraffe’s, I decided to speed up and reach home faster. In one of the turning (remember, this is inside the forest – so you won’t have visibility of other side while turning), as I turned into the next road at 40 km/hr, there was a lioness on the road, walking towards us. I hit a sudden break, without even minding our sleeping daughter in the backseat, and immediately raised the window glass. The Lioness stopped in front of our car, starred at us , and slowly walked past our car into the thick forest. That starring must have meant “I’m not interested in fighting with you people, my shift time is over, I’m going home.. get lost, chi po..!!”

This was that one..!!

And next, all I knew , before visiting South Africa, was that, there is one animal called “Deer / Antelope”, as most of us have read in Ramayanam. But, here, there are atleast 9 different variety of Deers. We were able to spot 8 of them and pictured 7 of them. 

This one is a "Bushbuck" (female) - can be recognised by the white spots on their flanks.

Below is a "Waterbuck" (male) - Lyre shaped, forward-pointing horns, and a white ring around the rump.

This one is called a "Kudu" (male). They are easily identified by their unique horns and white lines. 

This one is called "Duiker" (male), and again, their horns , short and straight,  help in their identity.

The below is a "Steenbok" (female).  Have a look at their ears..!

This one is an "Impala" (male)

And lastly, this one is a Nyala (female)

 As said earlier, Sep / Oct is the best time to be in Kruger. Mainly because, the climate is pleasant, and with spring season, there is lot of grass throughout the forest, where the herbivorous animals like Zebra, Wildebeest (Neelgai), Giraffe, Deers are all seen in plenty. So, obviously the predators will also be following them and can be spotted easily.

Here are some of the animals that were frequently seen:

The above one is Wildebeest , what we call in India as Neelgai.

For those who did not know, the above one is not a wild boar.. it is "Warthog".  that is - wild pig.

And now, here are some of the rarely seen creatures:

The first one on the list is the Albino Impala.  This one is a very very rare one to spot. For those who are not aware : Albino means the whiter version.  It can be a Lion, Allegator, Antelope etc.,

In the below picture, you can see a white deer. , rather - Albino Impala..

And this one was standing on the road..

This one is called a "Flap necked Chameleon". Not rare as such. But to spot it in a forest is quite a thing.

Below one is called a "Leopard Tortoise". 

Unable to believe ? Ok, look at this picture of a normal tortoise.:

Now, you would have understood better.

Lastly, here is a  "Water Monitor". This comes from the dragon family..! that is, the lizzard family.

It's a well-known fact that Kruger is known for it’s wilderness. Here are some pictures to show you why :

It seems, somebody had a "Wild-Buffalo" biriyani..!!

And here is a brutally butchered "Imapala"

When I spotted it, there were a bunch of bees and ants on it, and the blood was also quite raw, which could mean that the impala was killed in less than 1 hour ago..!! Oops.. I got goosebumps when I thought about it, at that time..!

Actually, Kruger is not only known for the big animals. There are lot other small animals which are equally cute and interesting to observer. But the pity is that most people drive in to the forest mainly to see Lion and Leopard. That was irritating, same like how people see cricket matches only for Sachin, and then turn off the TV once he gets out. Ok ok … no offense.. But I strictly believe that no individual is bigger than the game.

Here are some smaller animals that attracted us:

This one is called "Spotted Genet" - obviously, from the cat family.. It was spotted during our night safari.

You said it right.. A crocodile in action..

A Chachma Baboon with its baby.

And this one is the funny "vervet monkey" ..!

And lastly, there are not only land-attractions in Kruger. You also need to keep an eye on the trees to spot some nice birds. Here are some of the birds that we spotted:

The below bird is called "Bateleur".

This one is an "African Fish Eagle"

This one is a "Lappet faced Vulture"

And this one is a "Giant Kingfisher".

 A "white crane", in take-off and landing modes, respectively.

We spotted a lot of other birds too, such as the Grey Lourie, Wahlberg's Eagle, White backed Vulture, Hornbill, Hamerkop, Goliath Heron etc., etc.,  But It's hard to put all the pictures in the blog. Please visit my Picasa web album to see all the pictures.

And for the animals that we spotted, but couldn't take pictures - here are few:

1) Jackal : We spotted it on the road while taking a turn. And because of the vehicle sound, it ran inside a thick bush, and was hiding.
2) Cerval & Hares: We spotted it during our night safari, but couldn't capture them in the dark.
3) Mongoose : Spotted it at the end of the day when the camera battery was empty.
4) Wild Dog / Hyaena : We saw it in our rear mirror as it crossed the road after we moved. And there was no use in turning back.

Here are some key highlights of the trip:

The “WOW” moment:  When the Lioness walked in front of our car, unexpectedly.

The heart-stopping moment:  When the driver of the night-safari open-jeep, turned the Jeep from the gravel road into the tar road, the jeep suddenly stopped with a jerk. This was at around 10 PM, and there was sudden darkness everywhere, and remember - it's a forest.  The driver quietly said “Sorry guys, the diesel got over”!!

The “OH-NO” moment: This was when we missed a Cheetah by 5 minutes.  While I was driving in one of the gravel roads, the guy in the car coming from opposite direction, was kind enough to ask me to stop, and informed that there is a Cheetah lying by the same road, within 3-4 kilo meters. I immediately thanked him, and rushed to the spot. I din’t even mind to break the speed limit and drove at 70km/hr and reached the spot in less than 2 minutes. But by then the Cheetah had already crossed the road, and disappeared into the bush. If we had been there 10 minutes back….

But , overall, I’m really happy that our planning and scheduling turned out successful. And I hope you also enjoyed reading our experience.

To sum up, as Vadivelu says in Pokkiri movie,

"எதையுமே பிளான் பண்ணி பண்ணனும். !!"

Barfi - A wasted script

Helo there,

Now that I have started writing movie reviews,  I might as well continue writing short reviews then and there. For now, I'm picking up "Barfi".

I was one of those movie fans / critics who felt happy to see a "different" and "innovative" movie in Bollywood. Some say that a few scenes of Barfi were inspired from "Notebook" etc., But I hadn't watched any of those.

The script of the movie is wonderful, well backed by it's lead actors. I really liked the way the entire story was narrated as a flashback, and that a key part of the movie was held as suspense throughout the second half. And the chaplin'esque style for the lead actor also filled in the humor bucket.

But the problem with the movie was it's screenplay and background music. As you know, it's a story of a "deaf & dum" guy, who is also the lead actor in the movie. So, the entire story revolves around him, and he is present in most of the scenes. That means, in most of the scenes, there is no dialogue - just face expressions.

Without dialogues, any movie would look slow and dull.  Barfi was no different. The movie actually has a very good pace, but the background music was not good enough to highlight it. The BGM is more like the "salt" that we use while cooking. It's very interesting to note how the salt that we add in the end in the curries, brings out the different flavours and spices that we use.

Because of this one defect, the movie was termed as "slow-paced", "dull", "boring-at-times" etc.,

But nonetheless, this is a very good movie, and this should motivate more and more producers to invest on movies with such varied storyline.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara - Story ? concept ?

Hi,

I had decided a few months back that I'm going to stop writing movie reviews, as I somehow started feeling that it's an unproductive time, even for a fun time blog.

But, recently, I was watching a "one-of-many" "stupid" bollywood awards ceremony, in which, most of the awards, were, arguably, given to the right people who din't deserve it..!! neither were they given for the deserving reason. Hence, I complelled myself to write down my feedback about it.

One of those many movies, in the award ceremony, was "Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara". This movie was awared for "best story" at a couple of awards ceremonies.

 

'Three friends go on a holiday, mainly to take a break from their hectic schedule, but end up re-discovering themselves, and overcome their respective fears in life"

I don't have anything against this movie or it's artists. Infact, in my opinion, it was a decent movie, mainly inspired by the reason that it neither had a "Khan" nor a "Kapoor".. LOL.!

But I'm stuggling to understand where the story is. For me, the above is the concept and also a message that you succeed in life when you overcome your fears.

To say in one line in Hindi : "Dar ke aage Jeeth hai".

Which I would say, is, "Mountain Dew".

I would probably vote this under a "movie with a good message" division..