Sunday, 1 December 2024
Saturday, 30 November 2024
Friday, 29 November 2024
Thursday, 28 November 2024
Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Tuesday, 26 November 2024
Monday, 25 November 2024
A Wonderland of Words - A Review
Shashi Tharoor believes in the philosophy “Words are Power: Words are Magic.” Chandran Tharoor, to whom the book is dedicated, is described as the ‘author’s author’. Tharoor, in the Introduction, talks about the two word games that were part of the family vacations - 'Scrabble' and the early version of the now famous game 'Wordle' Tharoor defines his father as a 'milver', an individual who shares a strong interest in words with another person, particularly an interest in usage and wordplay. Most of the 101 essays in this book have appeared in the 'World of Words' column of the Dubai-based newspaper Khaleej Times. It is no wonder that some of the examples used are contextualised in the culture of the U.A.E.
Sample this one:
"It's pretty safe bet that there won't be too many readers of the original version of this piece, which appeared in the Gulf newspaper, who suffer from ‘xerophobia’ - an abnormal fear of dryness and dry places such as deserts."
Another one:
"We don't have too many turkeys around either in India or the UAE, but we have the word, if not the bird."
The book is well-researched, and even though the book ends on page 403, the Notes section extends to 442 pages. Every section has more than 50-60 references. Tharoor acknowledges the help rendered by Professor Sheeba Thattil, who did most of the research for this book. He describes her efforts as 'indefatigable' and ends the acknowledgement with these words. “In many ways, this book is as much to her credit as to mine."
According to her X profile, Professor Sheeba Thattil is a consultant copyeditor at Aleph Book Company, Delhi, a Professor of English, and a researcher. The excellent illustration before each section is by Priya Kurian, the Bengaluru-based illustrator and comics maker. I started following her on Instagram because of the beautiful cover and the charcoal illustrations she designed for Manu Pillai's "The Courtesan, the Mahatma & the Italian Brahmin."
The book has thirteen sections covering topics like punctuation, spelling, literary tools, and language of inclusion. I plan to take up some of the book's topics for the next 100-day challenge.
The book inspires me to take non-academic research more seriously. It always amazes me that a busy bee like Shashi Tharoor finds time to write books, deliver well-crafted lectures, and attend literary festivals. The same can be said of Manu S Pillai, who has written his latest book, "Gods, Guns, and Missionaries," which is more than 600 pages long. It is all about the time taken and the quality of research that makes the work great.
Tharoor recently published three books about the power and magic of words. The first one, "Tharoorosaurus,” came out in 2020. The second book, published in 2023, is "The Less You Preach, the More You Learn," a collaboration with Joseph Zacharias. The latest book about the magical world of words is "A Wonderland of Words." As an English teacher, I welcome this shift in the content from arid and squally political topics to much more enriching and inspiring content.
Sunday, 24 November 2024
Saturday, 23 November 2024
Friday, 22 November 2024
Thursday, 21 November 2024
‘Meiyazhagan’ Revisited
Nostalgia is one form of memory that is highly commercialized, especially in movies. “Meiyazhagan” is the second movie by C. Prem Kumar (‘96) which explore themes like family roots, home and identity. Interestingly he has worked in another movie as a cinematographer “Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom” which also revolves around memory or rather the loss of it. The lead character (played by Vijay Sethupathi) in this movie suffers from anterograde amnesia or short-term memory loss. ‘Meiyazhagan’ which started streaming on Netflix last month is about the influence of nostalgic past on the present life of the main character Arulmozhi "Arul" Varman played by Arvind Swamy. As he travels back to his place of birth (in time) to attend a wedding, he (and the audience) are reminded of the simpler times in life. The movie portrays his childhood, teenage life and how his father had to bequeath the ancestral house to the relatives and migrate to Chennai.
The movie reminded of the lines from Milan Kundera’s book “Ignorance”. The lengthy description about nostalgia which appears at the very beginning of the novel which goes like this - “the Greek word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So, nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return”. I could trace a similarity between “Ignorance” and “Meiyazhagan” They both examine the concept of homecoming and the concept of home. Kundera was forced to move to France from Czechoslovakia in 1975 and his novels dealt with themes of emigration and exile. Arulmozhi’s father even while residing in the city is connected to his home. In one of the over-sentimental scenes in the movie, he engages in a telephone conversation with his uncle and is shown as a heart broken man. Sadly, the scene could have better with some more histrionics thrown in. Indian films are yet to learn the art of sensitively portraying poignant scenes.
‘Meiyazhagan’ explores the concept of home. The movie is set in an idyllic village near Tanjore, a city in Tamil Nadu known for its rich culture, art, architecture, and literature. Arulmozhi’s journey like that of Victor in Sherman Alexie’s short story “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix” is a wake-up call to reclaim both the family and historical roots. There are many symbols used by the director, C. Prem Kumar to invoke these roots – the temple elephant Kutti, the bicycle with the faded sticker of Undertaker (even after 20 years), Dhoni, the Jallikattu bull, school photographs, the sacred snake etc. Pierre Nora in her essay “Between Memory and History”: Les Lieux de Mémoire (1989) introduces the concept of lieux de mémoire (sites of memory) and examines how physical spaces, including homes, serve as anchors for collective memory. Home can also be sites of traumatic memories, spaces for difficult or painful memories.
Poet Manu Joseph shared his thoughts about the movie after watching it on the streaming platform.
Ace film maker Karthik Subbaraj wrote - "What a Beautiful Beautiful Film #Meiyazhagan is.... Felt like getting a long warm hug from a close friend... Walked out of the theatre with Such a Heartwarming feeling ... Super awesome performances from @Karthi_Offl Sir @thearvindswami Sir and whole cast #PremKumar Sir... U r a master at bringing out human emotions on screen with such beauty... Hat's off Great job by #Govindvasantha, #MahendiranJayaraju & whole crew ",
They were critical reviews about the scene shot on the wedding stage where Arulmozhi’s gifts were opened by the bride. Some movie fans felt that the scene really tested the patience of the audience. Music of Govind Vasanta was a dumb squib when compared to his earlier outing with C. Premkumar ‘96.
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