If only someone had knocked on the door

As a child I had a morbid fear of sci-fi and would desist from reading anything that required imagining objects and beings that I hadn’t come across in my life as a human. After all nightmares replete with my school principal and the creatures that infested his interminable moustache were predicament enough for an 11 year old. But then, reeling under the might of peer-pressure – I succumbed.

The world that I dreaded to death had gone nuclear with The Matrix and the subsequent cerebral coup had brought about the capitulation of the rest of my brain. Could I be just a battery? All I needed was a sign or perhaps a red/blue pill and I would renounce everything materialistic in the world and embark upon an epic odyssey in pursuit of the Truth/Golden Fleece (Yeah, Right!!). Am still waiting for that flash….

Last week I watched a movie called The Butterfly Effect and was flabbergasted by the basic plot, which can be gathered from the statement below:

“A butterfly flapped its wings 60 years ago in Brazil, and today an earthquake hit China.” –Chaos Theory

Basically a small variation in the initial conditions of a dynamical system can produce large variations in the long-term behavior of the system.

Those of you, who are contemplating about leaving this blog right away to safeguard yourself from the tortures of another ludicrous hypothesis, bear with me for a while. The fact that you are reading my blog right now instead of doing anything else is affecting the future in profound ways (Yeah, Right!!). Because of your decision - everyone in the future will be different people than they would have been had you made a different choice (ROTFLOL).

“and it is this simple act, now, which unleashes the fires of life
from rock on a far away world six hundred million years from now”

At least, so the theory says.

Illustrating the principle is a sci-fi tale A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, in which a future time traveler goes back to the dinosaur age, breaches protocol by stepping out of a restricted area and accidentally tramples a butterfly. Upon returning to the present, he finds the world to be a somewhat different from than the one he left. All of history has been changed slightly by the death of a single butterfly in the distant past.

A parallel can be drawn between the effect and Karma (the totality of a one’s actions in any one of the successive states of one’s existence, thought of as determining the fate of the next stage) - the law of cause and effect. Your actions create ripples that spread out, echo and interfere with the ripples from the actions of others. Quoting Kofi Annan, “The world of human activity also has its own "Butterfly Effect" - human actions can either save the world or destroy it.” The Butterfly Effect reminds us to be conscious of our actions, the brittleness of life and our inherent liability in the disposition of all things.

Imagine the world today if someone knocked on the door of Hitler's parents’ house the moment he was being conceived.

(For those of you who judge a book by its movie, here is the audio file of A Sound Of Thunder)

An Ode to Chennai

(Glossary at the bottom for all non-Madrasis)

Living in Mumbai has opened my eyes to a fallacy that has long plagued the Indian Coolsville. Here "East beds west, so Mumbai is the best". I wore my rose-tinted glasses all along, but then the Koli boy crossed the line. Of all the audacious insults that come as baggage with being a resident of Lungitown invading Bhaizila, "Papadom Thambi" blew my fuse away. So I'm giving vent to my anger by compiling a list of reasons why Idly-Sambaar Suburb makes IndianizedBurgerVille "MIRROR" a cosmopoliton circus flashy in its urbanity.( That's right!! You heard me...the much hyped "vada pav" is but not a burger)

1.) The most striking feature is her fidelity to traditional and cultural moorings in the wake of the “Yo-Man!!” and MTV onslaught. Rather than compromising her integrity, she chose to effect the most harmonious confluence of Thairesaadam and Hot-Dogs, silk and denim, M.S.Subbalakshmi and Britney Spears, The Music Academy Kutchery and EC-41, retaining the charm of a neighbourhood Paati.

2.) Standing on my balcony every morning, admiring the beauty of the Kolam adorning my neighbour’s porch, what comes to light is the sheer effort and patience behind the creation of a being so ephemeral, only as a measure of upholding a religious rite. Nevertheless, battered by the fury of wind, water, tyre and the not so friendly neighbourhood dog, it is rejuvenated well before the dawn of sunset to regain its lost glory and the gaze of every passerby.

3.) Picture the stout, red faced, bald (but for the lone warrior battling the sands of time, on a desert in its own right ) asthmatic Thatha draped in his Ujalaed lungi, leaning on a cane and sticking his stomach out. Making his daily trip to the Amman Koil round the corner, he reminisces of the times She was a virgin to Victorian advances. Close on his heels, is the aforementioned Paati cocooned in her seven and a half yard pure Kanjeevaram Silk Saree (“Just recently wonly I purchased in Pothys Silk House” she would brag to the San–Franchesco, Yamerica Returned Paati living next door), sporting trendy “Pyuure” G.R. Thanga Maligai Gold plated spectacles, shooing away bees feasting on the Mallipu embellishing her snow white locks, worried if her grandson would love the poriyal she prepared for dinner with tremendous Lou and Yaffection.

4.) Unwinding to the Grand Old Lady of Mount Road (affectionately called the Hindu), one is comforted by both the hymns emanating from Subramanium Swamy’s 1985 Akai 2-in-1 stereo (gifted by Srinivasa Vardarajan on his trip over from the Gulf) and the Maula summoning his flock in his almost symphonic baritone(enabled with DTS surround sound). A Suud Narasu’s Filter Kaapi with butter biscuit makes my day.

5.) She refrained to succumb to marauding Skyscraping bandits who resolved to reduce her skyline to a mere piece in a sinister concrete puzzle.

6.) Indulge!!
a.) Ghee Dosai with Mulga Pudi – be it from Sid’s Tiffin Box, Sapthagiri or Saravanaas.
b.) Parotta Kurma in any roadside Vandikaar’s Shack.
c.) Parotta and Chilly Chicken at Apollo.
d.) Rasmalai and Kesar Peda at Gangotree.
e.) Dark Chocolate Brownie(Hot) and Pretty Girls(Very Hot) at Amethyst.

7.) She is neither home to hypocrites masquerading as Moral Policeman out to impede blossoming love between all those Cinderellas and Cinderfellas nor does she habour Page 3 parasites.

“Things never turn out exactly the way you planned. Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers; next day you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place...a town...a house like a lot of other houses... A yard like a lot of other yards...on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is...after all these years, I still look back...with wonder.”
--- Kevin Arnold(Fred Savage), The Wonder Years

Glossary : (for all u Mumbaikars and pseudo-Mumbaikars)
Thairesaadam = Curd-Rice, Kutchery = Carnatic Music Concert,
Paati = Granny, Kolam = Rangoli, Thatha = Grandpa,
Koil = Temple, Mallipu = Jasmine, poriyal = Sabji