Did you OPEN yet?

Sorry if that sounded like a bizarre Ad in a commercial newspaper (on a second thought, is there a newspaper other than commercial?)...

Did you check out the weekly Open Magazine from the RPG stable?

It is two week old and costs 30 bucks an issue.

I found the magazine to be much more closer (closer but not really there yet) to the GentleMan magazine of yesteryears from the Indian Express group.

A monthly, I used to luv Gentleman 'coz it was more offbeat, covering more about music, arts and lifestyle.

The magazine was blessed with an excellent editorial team which had the uncanny knack of publishing new stuff instead of stale news stories (like your regular weekly news magazines does).

But, Indian Express suddenly quit publishing the magazine in late '90s and I haven't seen anything closer to it till date.

Gentleman, had it been kicking alive today, would have been a decent answer to our eternal cravings for an magazine with a difference.

Whatever I have seen of Open in the last two weeks makes me feel that this magazine could fill that void, but still miles to go...

Random Poetry - Sangam poem by Kaniyan Poonkunranaar

Thanks to the website (http://www.cs.utk.edu/~siddhart/tamilnadu/POEMS/poem_yad.html), I have picked up the translation of my favourite Sangam poem (written between 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE) "Yaathum Oore Yaavarum Kelir" by Kaniyan Poonkunranaar.

The translation:
Any place is a city indeed, and all are kindred;
Good and evil do not proceed from others.
Suffering and soothing are to these similar.
Even death is not new. We would neither feel the thrill of
Calling life pleasant; nor would we out of spite
Call it unpleasant. Just as, when with lightning
The sky pours cool drops, uncontrolled,
Hurtling on rock, resounding, a raft is carried away
In the course of (a) great river of plenty,
In the course of Order is (our) dear soul carried;
Since we have benn enlightened by this vision of the wise,
We would not be amazed bt the great in their glory, and
We would even less despise the petty.

Thanks once again to the website and the translator Satyanad Kichenassamy.

To know more about Sangam literature, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangam_literature.

First a shoe...then a wood...

First it was a shoe...
...Now we read that a wood was hurled. (http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=6a6755f9-4e43-4001-829c-ea7f0573f5de&Headline=LTTE+supporter+hurls+wooden+missile+at+Chidambaram).
Whats up Doc? It seems Indian politicians surely have become a dartboard of sorts for people to vent their feelings!
But poor thing, it's P.C who has to bear all the brunt for a collective failure...