Posts

48th Chennai Book Fair

Image
Hi everyone! I had been to the 48th Chennai Book fair last week. Not to exaggerate, it was really amazing. I don't think the event would be held in other states with as much grandeur as in Tamil Nadu. It shows how much literature is being valued here. Also, the audience was huge. There were over 900 stalls and over 1 lakh books. But it is being reported that book sales in book fairs has been relatively decreasing over the years. The point stressed is that, people note down the books from the fair and then order the books online. The cost of books is often cited as the reason. But I bought most of the books from the fair. The thing is, when ordering online, there are chances of duplicate copies being despatched. After all, lower the price, lower the quality. The problem with duplicates is, the words are faded, and the books lose colour very soon. Also, the pages are very light and not thick, which could lead to the books getting damaged easily. I have also observed a change in me, w...
Post a Comment
Read more

My takeaways from Viduthalai 2

Image
  Viduthalai 2 was one of the most expected films of this year. The movie’s predecessor set high standards for this film. This is not a ‘review’ or ‘criticism’ about the film from my side, but a brief note on my takeaways from the film. Firstly, the film’s protagonist, ‘Vaathiyaar’, actually satisfies his alias, since he keeps lecturing to the audience about various ideologies throughout the film. While I found the arguments and opinions that were expressed in this film intriguing, it would take me some time and a rewatch to comprehend those. This is actually not what an average Vetrimaaran fan expects from him, since he is known for ‘showing’ and not ‘telling’ the audience. In this film, Vetrimaaran ‘tells’ a lot. A problem I found, with fully comprehending these lectures on ideologies were the synchronization issues between the dialogues and visuals. Of course, these are recurring issues in a Vetrimaaran film. He is known to keep changing and improvising dialogues in his movies e...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jealousy

Image
  Hello everyoneđź‘‹ What is jealousy? It is nothing but the uncontrollable anxiety a person feels upon witnessing the achievement or well-being of his or her neighbour. When one feels jealous, he or she is unable to control oneself and tries to do something about it. They either develop hatred towards the particular individual or express their anger in various ways. This expression of anger is either in self-destructive ways or directing the anger towards another place. When one develops hatred towards an individual, they begin to plot the individual's downfall or defamation. Defamation involves spinning false gossips about them, pretending to act in the individual's best interests but doing all sorts of things to bring harm upon them, etc. Another way is trying to mentally demoralize them by pointing some of their shortcomings in order to give them an inferiority complex or get them out of their happy moments. But what people keep forgetting is, what they lose through this hatr...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Parental Guidebook

Image
  Hello everyone! I think this is my third and final blogpost on the novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Atticus is never reluctant to let his children know the worst. Be it the concept of rape, or the segregation in Maycomb. When Alexandra says that it is not necessary for the children to get exposed to such realities at a very young age, Atticus tells her that 'it is just as much Maycomb County as missionary teas'. Meaning, he reflects that it is wrong to get children to believe that the world is virtuous and there is no injustice, since it would hit them hard when they get to know the reality by themselves. What elders do is, they introduce only the virtuous parts of the world to their children, and as the children grow up, the parents themselves violate certain virtues that they taught their children, which is certainly harmful.  Missionary teas are nothing but discussions that take place in missionary societies, where the members discuss about various plans to further ex...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Atticus Finch is a Gentleman

Image
Hey everyone! I am back with yet another post about Atticus Finch, who is truning into one of my favourite characters of literature day-by-day as I read the novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Last blog was about why I liked Atticus, which was because he was a gentleman. Today, I'm trying to be more elaborate on why he is as such. During the 11th chapter, we come across a character by name Mrs. Henry Dubose, an aged and ailing woman who keeps badmouthing about Atticus to his children whenever they pass by her house. One day, Jem Finch loses his cool and ruins her garden. Atticus asks Jem to read to Mrs. Dubose every evening for one month as compensation. Jem and Scout do as he says, and after one month, Mrs. Dubose dies and then, Atticus reveals to Jem that he was not sent to read to Mrs. Dubose as punishment, but for her own sake. Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict, and during her final days, in order to keep her distracted from morphine, reading was used as a substitute. This m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why I Like Atticus

Image
  Hi everyoneđź‘‹! The person you see in the above image is Atticus Finch from the novel, 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. I've read only 12 chapters from the novel, yet, this character has already become my favourite. Atticus is a lawyer situated in Maycomb County. He is the protagonist and he represents the African-American Tom Robinson who is on trial under falsely accused charges. Now as I've said earlier, I've read only a few chapters of the novel. In fact, the story hasn't even started yet. But my admiration for Atticus came from the 10th and 11th chapters, where the readers are completely filled in with Atticus' character before the actual story begins.  Atticus is fifty years of age, and he has a lot of shortcomings, such as his eye defects and his lack of interest in sports such as fishing and hunting. His children feel a bit insecure about Atticus, since the fathers of their peers are skilled sportspeople. One day, what happens is, a mad dog is found in the ...
1 comment
Read more

Where We Bow Down

Image
  Hello people! Do you know what this image conveys to you? If not, let me explain. The one on the left side of the image, kneeling down with folded hands, is Lord Shiva. And the one on the right side of the image is the Lord's son, Lord Murugan. Both of them are highly revered deities in Hinduism. Especially, Lord Shiva is also known as 'Mahadev', meaning the supreme lord.  Here, we could see the Supreme Lord bowing down devoutly in front of his son. Do you know why? This was an instance which occurred when Lord Murugan imparted the knowledge about the meaning of the pranava 'Om' to his father. This happened when Lord Murugan imprisoned Lord Brahma, the God of Creation when he admitted that he didn't know the meaning of 'Om'. All the other deities went to Lord Shiva for help, since Creation has to proceed. Shiva went to Murugan and asked him if he knew the meaning of 'Om'. For that, Murugan replied, "If you accept me as your Guru, I would i...
Post a Comment
Read more