Monday, October 30, 2006

Share Auto

Share autos in Chennai are breaking waves (and having done away with the customary monsoon pun, we continue). For the first time in Chennai public transport history, unfamiliar men and women sit next to each other, often times pressed against each other. And all they want is to get to their bloody destination in time.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Screenwriting in Tamil

Celtx is a very cool open-source screenwriting application, and since they invite you to localize it, I wanted to try doing something about it. The very patient Saravanan offered to help me, and am happy to announce that he has also integrated the TamilKey firefox extension with Celtx. Now I can use the Anjal keyboard I am so familiar with, to type in Tamil. Actual localization of Celtx will take as long as it takes to translate the menu items etc into Tamil. And that is supposed to be sappa matter!

Now when that gets done, it should prove invaluable to Tamil screenwriters. So once again, many thanks to Saravanan for helping out, and to Sidharth and Anon who also offered to help!

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Immoral 'India Inc' gets shot in the arm

These damn capitalists have no morals anyway.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Coding Tamil wanted

My previous request resulted in some wise-cracks, and nothing much else. Now since you guys've been so readily unhelpful as regards my romantic pursuits, I only hope a request of a more professional nature would yield some proper results.

I am basically looking for a coder-type person/persons to Tamilify a very exciting and terribly useful open-source application. This might involve some serious and committed work, and I am not techy-enough to explain the time and effort it might take.

Bottom-line: Is there good money in it? Not with the project directly (The app is freely distributed and open-source - though the guys promise a T-shirt). But, apart from the obvious political mileage to be drawn from sindifying sweat, blood and other sundry bodily fluids for the sake of the mother-tongue, you will also receive the unqualified gratitude of a very powerful and reasonably "well-to-do" industry.

Apply herein!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Panagal Park population of Kali

1. The cop're doing a terribly good job in de-constipating the Panagal Park junction.

Peeping out of the puLimoottai, sweat-smelling, elbowinyourface bus, I saw red day-glo men patrolling the road along the Brahmandamanasaravanastoremonstrosity, while sharp-voiced lady cop hurled abuses at errant drivers from atop her incredibly high perch on the island.

The bus slid through the tight-arse canal lined with high-resolution-pretty-Tamil-women-in-silks as if it were a graphite-lubricated eel sliding slickly along a vendaikka-coated vazhai thandu slope.

2. Whythefuckis everyplace so crowded? But, come to think of it, my very existence depends rather heavily on the existence of my parents, and my mother was the 8th of 9 children. I have nothing to complain about India's generous population, or my recently-late grandma's 'Hindu' duties.

3. And speaking of Hindu 'deities'. Here's why I'm yet a believer!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Kind residents of Madras

I need your help in tracing somebody.

She was spotted near Coffee? (the place in RA Puram) this evening about 8. She got out of a Silver Honda City (so says CC, but he's not sure) with 3 other blokes (and that's the slightly worrisom part). She was dressed in a very lovely white printed skirt—the sort that not too many girls can carry off gracefully, and hence you don't see too much of these days. She also sported black heeled shoes, and a slightly crappy handbag. She speaks very clear unbroken Tamil.

My gaze was averted unfortunately when I got a call and had to rush elsewhere.

If you do know her, or if you are her, please get in touch with me. Information leading to positive identification, and positive identification leading to meaningful contact, will be rewarded.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Real and disturbing

And that's what makes Benjamen Walker's podcasts so cool.

The latest is about evil landlords and their poor exploited tenants.