Sunday, August 22, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Happy Independence Day
This photo is of the first postage stamp of free
The value given is 3 ½ Annas. The currency system in
1 Rupee = 16 Annas
1 Anna = 4 Pice
1 Pice = 3 Pies
It would be also interesting to see the posts
JAI HIND.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Another bandh
Well, we have gone through another bandh. Long weekend for some, misery for many. Apart from that has the event contributed anything?
It was said by the organizers that the purpose of the bandh was to make the Government of India aware of the people’s protest against the increase in petroleum prices. One would assume that if the Government consists of sensible people, it would have known that the hike in petroleum prices would make every Indian unhappy. The loss of crores of rupees caused by the bandh was not required to get the message across.
LK Advani is reported to have mentioned that for the first time all the opposition parties came together. That would have been a happy incident if some sensible solution was put forward by them to tackle the issue. At least those among them who are ruling some of the States could have come out with a declaration that their States would forego the windfall that comes by way of Sales Tax every time the petrol prices are increased. No, that is more of unbudgeted money to spend.
Left ruled States, Kerala,
In my opinion the BJP should have a rethink on its approach. It unlikely to gain anything by aligning with the Left. There is the example of the Congress – that party moved ahead once the Left withdrew support. BJP is a party which might head the Government of India again. They should take a more objective and mature view.
It is a reality that the oil prices in the international market fluctuate. A government cannot constantly and indiscriminately absorb the increases to subsidize a price level in the home market.
Perhaps the think tanks of the major political parties should sit down together and work out a price escalation formula for future applications.
Please also see Tackling the oil crisis
Friday, June 25, 2010
Apologies for AWOL, rains in Cochin
For a few months now I have not been paying due attention to my blog. It has been a kind of absence without leave. Some of the regular readers have been kind enough to write to me about it. My apologies to them, and to those who made comments on my posts and did not receive any response.
For the last few weeks I was in Kerala. This was my first trip after the cardiac bypass operation I had in September 2009. I did not even touch a computer there. It was a time of getting together with the family and friends, visits to the club, and attending a few functions. Had a lovely time.
Chennai and Kerala are, as you know, in different weather zones – sweltering heat at one end and pelting rains at the other. Singing in the rain was not on cards. Neither was walking in the downpour without an umbrella. But it was nice being driven around. At the moment the
Olavipe, my home village is all green, just like the rest of Kerala. But it looks better on TV. Last week an interview with my younger brother Hormis Tharakan (former RAW chief) at Olavipe was on the mini screen and the place looked great.
An equally alluring spot is the beautiful riverside house of a cousin, Mathew Manipadam, at Udayanapuram near Vaikom. For the first time in my life I saw yellow hibiscus flowers there. I was really stunned by it. A couple of photos I took of them are reproduced below:
The construction activities in
Given here is a photo of a building I liked.
The structure looks beautiful, rising from the cluster of trees. Imagine it is in a city!
Such trees are not common in Kerala these days. Not much care is given to them. The main reasons for this are (1) it is difficult to get workmen, (2) the wages for unskilled labour is around Rs.300/day, (3) those who climb the palms to pluck the nuts are very few and charge heavily, and (4) the prices the farmer gets for the nuts are uneconomic.
The next is the picture of a special variety of coconut tree from Manipadam house. I believe that it starts yielding in 18 months! But the oil content in the kernel is low. Therefore it is not a commercially viable proposition.
Kerala is slowly changing from the land of coconut trees to a concrete jungle. It is so sad.
Well, I am back in Chennai. The weather gods here are really kinder than they were last month. I am looking forward to keeping up my blog with regular postings.
[Click on photos to enlarge.]
Monday, May 24, 2010
Of Vishwanathan Anand, chess, chathurangam and Velliappan
41 year old Padma Vibhushan Vishwanathan Anand has brought so much glory to
Chess, in its earlier form known as Chathurangam, is believed to have been born in
But till Anand came into the limelight, the only Indian who was internationally famous in the game was
Velliappan ( my father’s elder cousin) was the patron of the game in our area. Two things he loved were Carnatic music and chess. For a long time there was a group of live in musicians in his house. The south-eastern portion of the ettukettu buildining was their domain. They would start tuning their instruments from early morning.
The south-western side of the building was chess area. An elderly Gowda Saraswath Brahmin who stayed not too far away, was in charge of that section. We used to call him Konkani. He would arrive at sunrise, make the chess pieces (I’ll come to that later), place them on the board, and wait.
This situation would continue till Velliappan decided, after breakfast, his pursuit for the day. If he hums a classic and the ‘tuk tuk’ sound of his methiadi (wooden sandals) on hard floor is heard on the eastern veranda, the Konkani could go home. Otherwise the musicians would pack up for the day.
The chess group included a man named Pylee. According to Velliappan, he was good enough for international level chess. It seems that in a Capablanca (World Champion 1921-1927) match in the 1920s the loser failed to gauge the impact that a move would have 23 turns later. When the position was laid out to Pylee, he said that there was some problem 20 moves later. Incredible. But Pylee died unknown except in our area.
I used to go to Velliappan’s house to play with his son Kuttappan who is about my age. One day Velliappan summoned me and ordered me to sit in front of the chess board. I was about ten years old then. Velliappan first explained to me chathurangam. All that I remember of it now is that most of the pieces had much less power than in chess. Then I, a not too interested student, was taught the basics of chess.
From then on I used steal into that house to escape Velliappan’s attention. But whenever he realized that I was there, it meant hours of chess. I did develop some interest in the game and learned a few of the techniques that helped me at college level games.
Velliappan and I played chess for years. I could never match his skills and he always won. Then one day, Velliappan who was quite old then, was taking much longer than usual to make a move. His face was flushed. Then a younger cousin of his walked in, studied the board and laughed. “Chetta, you have lost,” he said to Velliappan.
The old man swiped the pieces off the board angrily, got up and walked away to his room. It was then that I realized that I had, or would have, won. Velliappan and I never played chess again.
Now, about the Konkani and the chess pieces. The first thing that the man did after reaching Velliappan’s house was to cut a big leaf from a banana plant. He would shave off the green flexible part of the leaf and bring the thick middle rib into the house.
Then the ritual began. He would recite a sloka (poem) and start cutting according to it the mid rib of the leaf from the base. One by one the chess pieces would emerge. I think the first piece was the ‘white’ king and the next the ‘black’ king.
These pieces did not have colour of course. The differentiation of the two sets of chessmen was by size. The ‘white’ pieces were called vankaru (large piece) and the black cherukaru (small piece). Since cherukaru was always cut after the similar vankaru, it was always smaller.
It is a matter of regret to me that I never bothered to write down the sloka that the Konkani used for creating the chess pieces sixty years back.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Modern Threaters, Salem’s erstwhile dream factory
MK Kamalam, the heroine of the first Malayalam talkie film ‘Balan’ died on the 20th of this month. She was 87. The report about her demise mentioned that ‘Balan’ was produced at Modern Theaters Ltd.,
That reminded me of two things. One was of driving past the studio long ago on the way to visit my children who were studying at Sacred Hearts, Yercaud (SHY). The other was an old photo of my brother-in-law P Thomas Abraham and some of his
The actors, Rod Cameron, Cesar Romero and Marie Windsor who had come down for shooting the movie ‘The Jungle’. It was a joint venture by TR Sundaram, Voltaire Productions Inc., and Robert M. Lippert. The distributors were Lippert Pictures, Inc.
Thomas was kind enough to search out the photo and send it to me. It is reproduced below.
(Click to enlarge. Copyright reserved.)
The story thread of ‘The Jungle’ went something like this: There were several wild animal stampedes in an Indian jungle in which several people in the nearby villages died. The local princess took a great white hunter into the forest to investigate the incidents. They discovered that some prehistoric mammoths caused terror among the wild animals. The great white hunter handles the situation.
‘The Jungle’, directed by William Berke, was released on August 1, 1952. It was a success internationally but did not do too well in
Probably that was the only English movie shot at Modern Theaters Ltd.,
The man of vision who created Modern Theatres was Thiruchengodu Ramalingam Sundaram (TRS). He was born in a family of yarn merchants and textile mill owners, in 1907. He was sent to
Back home TRS worked for some time in the family business and then followed his own dream. He turned to the cinema field and started Angel Films in
Thus Modern Theaters Ltd. was born. That, I think, was
The first film to roll out of the new studio was `Sathi Ahalya' in 1937. The dream run continued for 45 years and ended in 1982 with `Vetri Namathe'. Many of the 117 films (some sources say over 150) produced there were hits. They covered many genres. Mythology was there of course. Other themes included folklore, comedies, classics, mysteries and original stories.
As the name suggests, Modern Theaters Ltd was a Joint Stock Company and was operated on modern business lines by TRS. There was an efficient production schedule covering two or three movies a year and tight budget controls. This resulted in new attractive products being supplied to the market at regular intervals.
TR Sundaram who had an eye for talent operated the studio on the old
Those introduced by TRS include MR Radha, SV Ranga Rao and Anjali Devi. Mention must also be made of the American, Ellis R. Duncan who successfully directed several films made at Modern Theatres. TRS paid all his people well and without delay.
The first South Indian colour film ‘Alibabavam 40 Thirudargalum’ (1955) was made at Modern Theatres. The MG Ramachandran and P Bhanumathi movie was a big hit. In Malayalam also the first colour film ‘Kandam Becha Coat’ (1961) came out of this
TR Sundaram died in 1963.
By then
But tragedy struck the family again. A few years later R. Sundaram also died prematurely. With that activities at Modern Theaters ground to a halt. Later the property changed hands. It is now a prestigious housing area.
I wonder how many people are there in the history of world cinema industry comparable to TR Sundaram. He was a one man institution – studio owner, producer, director, financier, company chief, talent scout, inspirational presence. He is a cinema legend that
Perhaps the present crop of producers who complain so vehemently about high cost of cinema making can possibly learn a thing or two by studying the operational techniques of TR Sundaram.
Also see: