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Prabhu's Literature

Every man's memory is his private literature. ~Aldous Huxley

Thenkachi ko Swaminathan

Thursday, September 17, 2009
Thenkachi ko Swaminathan is no more. I quite vividly remember listening to his 'Indru oru Thagaval' on All India Radio. The messages and humor said in his inimitable style was thoughtful and mornings were never complete without hearing him. I am sure his demise has come as a shocker to all his followers

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

PBS voice is perfect. Rajkumar's performance measured. Good Lyrics. Everything in place. Song on par with 'Malarndhum Malaradha' song from the movie Pasamalar.

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Flowers At lalbagh

Thursday, August 13, 2009



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Dawkins' Next!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Richard Dawkins is one of my favorite authors. The passion with which he writes on evolution and defends it against any religious body deriding its significance cannot be missed. It is not just Richard’s writing that is fascinating and enlightening but his lectures and talks too are equally interesting. I am now eagerly awaiting his next book The Greatest Show on Earth. I expect it to be better than his masterpiece, The Selfish Gene. I am confident it would be.

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Tube Curse

Friday, July 17, 2009
I have always observed that when browsing the channels on TV, at times I would come across a particularly interesting piece of program. However what I would get to see with disappointment is the program in its conclusion phase. Recently I experienced such a frustration. I landed on a channel in which a western classical concert was in progress. Listening to the music was pure bliss. But it lasted just few minutes. The loss was more painful, just to wonder what had been missed, to see the audience give the composer standing ovation, with ceaseless applause.

The Rakhi Sawant Swayamwar ‘reality’ show on NDTV Imagine. Totally inane.

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How True!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

source : http://xkcd.com/

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This and That

Baaski is one of my favorite humorist. Sample the following from VPL which had me in splits: (non Tamil readers please excuse. Translation won't help)

On the topic of traffic woes:

நேயர் : இனிமேல் எங்கேயும் நடந்துதான்
போகணும் சார் !

பாஸ்கி : நடக்குற கதையா பேசுங்க
சார்!

G.V Prakash seems to have drawn a lot of ‘inspiration’ from various sources for creating Ayirathil Oruvan. Its lack of originality has made me become tired of it!

I am keen to watch Pasanga. Of what ever I have seen of it on TV it appears to be promising.

As much as I love listening to Ilayaraaja's masterpieces, I try not listening to him speak in interviews and events. Most of the time its nonsense. Recent case was in the audio release of Valmiki.

Keith Barry does brain magic at TED. Watch it and be astonished!

I am currently reading The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness. My black iPod appears much cooler now!

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Guns, Germs and Steel

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond tries to answer a fundamental question: Why did history unfold differently on different continents. In dismissing any racial superiority of humans of one region over the other the author takes up the challenge of explaining the root cause of the difference that we find today. Since the end of the last ice age about 13,000 years ago different parts of the world have evolved in a very contrasting ways. From being hunter gatherers humans in some parts of the world evolved to non literate farming societies and in some other parts progressed into literate industrialized communities with metal tools. Some remained hunter gatherers. The book tackles in very engaging way the question of why and how peoples of Eurasia had the head start in the race of human progress and went on to conquer and dominate regions like Africa, Americas and Aboriginal Australia.

The book which has the subtitle, “a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years”, tries to seek by means of rigorous analysis the ultimate factors that gave rise to proximate causes which in turn affected the course of history. It establishes that the environmental differences were the ultimate factor responsible for the diversification of the continents. The geography of Eurasia was such that it aided plant and animal domestication and farming. A community which starts food production rapidly evolves into a community of large, dense, sedentary, stratified societies. Owing to east/west orientation of continental axis of Eurasia the developments spread easier and rapidly as environmental conditions are more or less the same across the continent. Contrasting this with north/south orientation of Americas and Africa we find that variation in the geography hinders the spread of species and skills developed in one region to spread to other easily. Large population has the advantages that it can develop technology like guns and steel much more easily than distributed and isolated societies. Political organization and writing is the later logical outcome of it. There is also the other factor of germs having evolved from domesticated animals in Eurasia and its population over the years gaining immunity to those. And hence Eurasians armed with their guns, germs and steel went on to conquer other less blessed continents. Guns were no match to stone and primitive tools, germs carried by Eurasians unleashed epidemic of great proportions which resulted in disappearance of native communities in other continents in a limited time span. Steel and technology enabled Eurasians to establish their rule in new world in quick time and oppress the disadvantaged easily.

In the above paragraph, I have taken the liberty to put things in very broad terms what the author has painstakingly explained in the book with scientific rigour. I request that one should read the book to find out how and why various factors had affected the human history.

I found the book very engaging. The book which had me riveted with its initial chapter progresses with lot of intricate details which at times was difficult to read through. However this isn’t a novel and I appreciate the author for his efforts in narrating the history of a long timescale effectively. If you find the title and the subtitle inviting then I say, please indulge. You will not be disappointed.

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