World's happiest countries

So what makes people happy? Its a simple question that has a complex answer treading the realms of philosophy, economy, religion ( and many more....).

A quick look at this list, reveals a lot more positive correlation with liberty and freedom. No wonder that Europe dominates the list.

Google news in Tamil

Google news has been my home page for a long time now. I learnt today that Google news is available in tamil as well. Not getting enough tamil feed has been an issue for me in the past. Thank god, that is solved now !

Phelps' 7th Gold

What an incredible race it was ! A winner by 1/100th of a second. I feel sorry for the Serbian Cavic but he can take comfort that he has afterall lost to the greatest swimmer the sport has ever seen.

Phelps , its nothing short of a super-human effort. Now we know what separates mortals & immortals !

Gold Dream

Abhinav Bindra shoots his way to glory. Hope this inspires more people to consider sports as a career.

Relive Pancham - Review

It was a musical evening that RDB fans would remember forever. R.D.Burman's music troupe performed at the Esplanade concert hall last Sunday, entertaining the audience for more than 3 hours. Though I am a bigger fan of the father Burman ( S.D.Burman) , the son is not too behind in my list of favorite composers.

The concert was a pure musical concert devoid of any vocals ( except for the yodelling " Monica Oh my darling" ). The concert was compered very well by the renowned " Harish Bhimani" ( who provided a lot of trivia on RDB's life and films) and conducted ably by " " . The star of the show was Manohari Singh , the sax player in RDB's troupe who had assisted RDB from Bhoot Bhangla ( his first movie) to 1942 - A love story ( his swan song). Manoharida is 79 years old now - a frail figure who walks quite slowly due to his age. But the moment he takes the sax in his hands , he is transformed into a tour-de-force full of energy and ethusiasm.

Here are the songs performed at the concert:

1. Theme music of " Sholay"

2. Chanda Main ( Movie : ???)

3. Kya Janoon Sajan ( Movie : Baharon Ke Sapne)

4. Gulabi Aanken ( Movie : The Train) - Brilliant song , it set the mood for the concert.

5. Ae Jawani Ae Deewani ( Movie: Jawani Diwani)

6. Chura Liya ( Movie: Yaadon Ki Baarat)

7. Jaane Jaa ( Movie: Jawani Diwani) - Manoharida was wonderful on Saxophone.

8. Ab Jo Mile Tho ( Movie: Caravan)

9. Jab Andera hota hai ( Movie: Raja rani)

10. Khatooba ( Movie: Alibaba and 40 thieves)

11. O meri jaan ( Movie: The train)

12. Bachna ae haseeno ( Movie: Hum Kissise kum nahin)

13. Dil Lena ko ( Movie: Zamana ko dikhana hai)

14. Saiyan re saiyan ( Movie: The train)

15. Koi Haathon main ( Movie: Mela)

16. Kaanta Laga ( Movie: Samadhi)

17. Dum maro dum ( Hare rama hare krishna)

18. A "medley" from Hum Kissise kum nahin

19. Lekar hum ( Movie: Yaadon ki baarat)

20. Mehbooba ( Movie: Sholay)

21. Title song of Shaan

22. Title music of Shalimar

23. Piya Tu ( Movie: Caravan) - the best song of the evening with excellent orchestration

24. Yeh Jo Mohabbat ( Movie: Kati Patang)

The list was a surprise ( I expected Aandhi, Amar prem, Teesri Manzil, Ghar, Ijaazat, Golmaal, etc) for me. Since fast numbers sound better in a musical concert without vocals, the troupe must have chosen the aforementioned ones.

It was 3 hours of sheer nostalgia and bliss. I look forward to pancham 2009.

Kuselan - Movie Review

Kuselan is the perfect example of a movie that has an excellent story but spoilt by poor screenplay and direction. Devoid of subtlety and naturalness, the screenplay struggles and meanders throughout the movie ( except for the last 20 mins).

Rajni chose the right story but the wrong director.

Crazy Avatar

" Crazy" Mohan is inimitable. A multi-faceted personality, he is quite famous for his stage plays , cinema dialogues and painting .

I recently read the book " Five star Palagara Kadai" - a compilation of his humorous essays in Junior Vikatan in the 80's. Crazy idolizes P.G.Wodehouse and I can vouch that he is not far away from his mentor in humor & writing style. This book is simply hilarious and would leave one in splits with its anecdotes and punch lines.

The best amongst this collection -
1. " Naai Villargal" ( Dog villians) - his encounters with dogs
2. " Nil Gavani Kizhavi" - The scooter accident involving an old woman
3. "Politics plus 2" - his recommendations for a school for politicians
4. "doctargal pala vidham" - an overview of the various kinds of doctors

This book is in tamil ( published by Vikatan group) and is priced at Rs.45. Beg,borrow,steal!