The Shakespeares of Our Times - 2

Suppress and Oppress and Depress. At One Stage they will Strike.

The story goes back to 1928, There was this unassuming Dinosaur-sized Gorilla in a Pacific Island, which an enthusiastic photographer caught on his camera and posted on his Facebook wall. When the picture got over a 100 likes in a matter of few minutes, the man knew this was no ordinary gorilla. He went back to the island to search for the same ape and when even after years of searching he couldn't find it, he decided he would make a film in the memory of that Gorilla.

King Kong, the film, created history. Everyone loved the movie and it became one of the most watched, remade (and spoofed) movies of all times. Last week, I was cleaning my cupboard when I found that original picture which that photographer guy posted on his fb wall. And I was astounded, mystified, stymied and stupified (and the like) at what I saw in front of my eyes

The Original photograph.

A close replica of the original photograph.
By the time this post goes online, children magazines in USA
have already started carrying the two pictures with
a question on top :
"Spot Six differences between the two pictures"

Yes, I know that Western travellers right since the time of that Columbus guy have time and again proved themselves to be a bunch of dung brained, shit headed, directionless gypsies who rarely go to their intended destination, like, for instance, finding themselves in Barbados when they were supposed to come to Delhi. But even by those standards, in colloquial terms, "this is simply too much". I mean from what angle does T.Rajender look like King Kong ?? 

T.Rajender is one of the big literary figures of our generation. And that, I believe, the English-speaking World doesn't know. I mean he is the biggest multi-tasking writer ever since Shakespeare. Much like Shakespeare, TR is a writer/speaker/actor/orator/singer/dancer/mouth-music-maker/several-other-things-which-I-dont-remember-right-now. To call him King Kong is, in S.M.Krishna terms, "preposterous".

T.Rajender has contributed more to English than probably Shakespeare himself. Shakespeare may have done a lot to make communication among humans a lot more easier, but thala T.Rajender's contribution to English and language in general is far more acomplished primarily because he taught us how to talk to non-Humans - to bears, to apes and to other animals. You didnt know ? Take a look.

In the above video, TR tells us something which Shakespeare never found out in his age, nor has anyone else till now. T.Rajender in 1 minute, spontaneously uncovered the mysteries that were plaguing the minds of Linguists and Language experts ever since the birth of language in this World. What is this but pure genius ??

However, T.Rajender's genius is not restricted to extending the boundaries of modern day language. He is also an accomplished musician and has composed for millions of songs in all languages (including trollish, goblin and one special song in parseltongue). Here's one of his more popular songs which another popular contemporary singer suruttified from him.  

Contrary to poopular belief, Shakira didnt compose and sing this song. TR did it - live on television. Shakira became popular just cos she looks sexy. This song is currently under judicial investigation and Shakira has reportedly offered a big package to TR to withdraw all charges. It remains to be seen what happens.

This above video shows Voldemort dancing in the Parseltongue version of the Waka Waka song made by TR. Its called - This time for Azkaban. 

This isn't it. Beyond this, T.Rajender is also an accomplished English orator and is famous for having given famous fiery speeches in the past. Now thats something even Shakespeare doesnt have to his credentials. Take a look at the following videos that will show how great Thala sounds when he speaks.

Yes. The most remarkable words in English's rich heritage - Suppress and Oppress and Depress. At one stage they will strike. 

That's English for you !! Vintage TR ! 

I hope you are finally convinced why T.Rajender is one of the most under rated literary figures of our generation. His body of work is compelling and deserved nothing less than the Bharat Ratna, if not the Nobel Prize. But they want to give the Bharat Ratna to Sachin Tendulkar instead. Isn't that sad? 

Credits to the original video makers. 

Credits to Kiran Radhakrishnan for suggesting the "Shakespeare" :D

The Greatest Character of our Generation, You certainly Know Who!

There is no good or evil. There is only power, and those too weak not to seek it.

Come Friday, the legacy of Harry Potter will end. And along with it will end the years of anticipation that preceded the release of any new film or book in the series. And as we prepare for this final showdown, I cannot help but feel sad and gloomy. Yes, it the end of Lord Voldemort too.

Well, I know I will be doing an infinite amount of injustice to the entire Harry Potter clan by choosing Lord Voldemort as a better character over him, but then anyone who’s read the books would agree that J.K.Rowling always gave Voldemort’s character that extra bit of depth which Harry Potter simply lacked. Accepted, Harry Potter is the hero and all, and that he was the Chosen One, not dear old Voldy, but almost as if by design, these very things worked in favour of Lord Voldemort for me. He rocked and did so unpredictably. You never knew what he would do next. And though he was evil, he was just so awesomely evil.

I am certainly not the only person who feels that Voldemort was the greatest character of the entire Harry Potter series. But I haven’t really thought much about whether he is really the greatest character our generation has seen. But of one thing I am sure. I wouldn’t be able to think of another alternative without having to rack my brains for hours together with a critical mind focussed on making Lord Voldemort sound any lesser than the most evil, the most focussed and brilliant wizard to have studied in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since Albus Dumbledore himself.

Voldemort’s rise to greatness (in my mind and in his own life) all happened in the course of the Half Blood Prince which I believe is the best book of the series, primarily because it tells us the story of how some half-blood at an orphanage, quite imaginatively called Tom Marvolo Riddle (yeah, ‘I am Lord Voldemort’, one more Ulti thing about him), becomes the most feared wizard of all times. When Ollivander says in The Philosopher’s Stone, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was great.Terrible yes, but Great!”, he certainly makes a point. After all,  the colloquial his ‘terror’ is such, people don’t like to call him by his name even years after he was at large and prefer calling him “You-Know-Who”.

Rowling is usually accused of deriving too many plots, subplots and characters from the Lord of the Rings (which is quite a different masterpiece altogether), but at least in that respect, I think Lord Voldemort wins over Harry Potter and Co.  Albus Dumbledore was like totally Gandalf (even the actor who played both roles) and Harry Potter was a kind of dull shadow of Frodo. But then Lord Voldemort was certainly a more effective and detestable negative character than that Sauron guy who for me simply wasn’t complete enough, quite literally so – the only part of Sauron we could possibly fear was his eye (there again, not even both eyes, just one).

While talking of the greatness of Lord Voldemort, it would be totally unfair to leave out Ralph Fiennes from the discussion. Across the globe, Harry Potter fans identify the evil that Lord Voldemort represented with the face of Ralph Fiennes, the actor who played the character in the last few parts. And that has been one of the significant achievements of the franchise. His facial make up (the slits for nostrils especially), his voice modulation, his delicate handling of the character and his appearance of pure evil, all were right out of the book. Having said that, the movies have always been too hollow in their portrayal of Lord Voldemort. The only book in which the focus was on Lord Voldemort was Half Blood Prince and quite contrary to the book, the movie was the worst of the lot. The filmmakers handled his part very lightly, almost as if to suggest he was insignificant. And that deservingly failed terribly.

Overall, it comes down to what I said earlier. Whether you like Harry Potter, or like Lord Voldemort, on July 15^th, it all ends. Yeah, Rowling keeps speculating it hasn’t ended yet, but still, it’s been too good to last any longer. But certainly, Lord Voldemort will not return this time (unless its a prequel). It’s certainly a painful adieu to the boy who lived and more so, to You-Know-Who.

The Shakespeares of Our Times - 1

(A series on how English has evolved since the birth of the language and the birth of Shakespeare)

It was the 26th of April, 1564. It was a dark evening. Clouds had covered every inch of the summer sky in England. Lightning and thunder had scared the average Englishman to stay in his house. But one man was walking along a small kurukku sandhu in Warwickshire. The man had wrapped himself in big Polar bear furs (back then there was no PETA) and was walking urgently towards a house - the house of the nurse.

He knocked on the door and in exasperated tones told the nurse - "Baboochi Lagothar Malatum Kada".
The shocked nurse immediately dressed up and went running to the man's house. A woman lying there was in labours and shrieking in pain. The nurse was doing everything she could while outside the thunderstorm had just gotten worse. It was as if the heavens were desperately trying to keep the child from coming out alive. The Gods were scared of this soul which was destined to change the World.

A few more agonising moments later, the storm suddenly fizzled out. And the thunder of the thunder in the small room was now replaced with cries of a young new born baby. The parents and the nurse thanked the Gods, the gods who had so desperately tried to prevent this, and there that day in Stratford-upon-Avon was born, William Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare was a very different boy. While everyone spoke in one language, William Shakespeare spoke in a different one. He wrote plays and dramas which no one could understand. People cursed him, hated him for writing so much. They called him nincompoop, a chowderhead, a noodledick, a fanny and a winnit and many other such words he had himself invented. .

In 21st Century, a few 10's of generations later, the consequences of William Shakespeare are still lasting. Students still cant understand what he wrote, still call him names (a little advanced ones now), and whats worse they all seem to think his name is "Shakesphere" and cannot fathom even in their wildest thoughts why someone would call a small plump boy a speare instead of a sphere. Its quite a different thing altogether that they find his entire name dull, difficult to pronounce and hence highly unimaginative. Lets face it, you wouldn't wake up one fine day to name your dog, cat or even your son Shakespeare. Why no sense of fashionability ?? The name is not even listed in the latest version of 1000 names for Baby Christian boys.

Anyway, thats his problem not ours. Point is, Shakespeare was the beginning of what can be called the End of Language. He was the one who first proved to us that if you dont know your language, you could also create your own words and meanings and still become a Legend. He created some 40000 new words, redefined what grammar was and set new standards. Now that's what I call setting a bad precedent. Don't get the point ? I'll explain.

Take for instance, the most respected modern English literary figure from Tamil Nadu - Jeppiar. Jeppiar is time and again slammed by purists for what they call is "English at its worst". But then the inspiringly determined Jeppiar says "That my the own way of the talking Englees" which roughly translates to "It is my own way of speaking in English". Understandable. Analysing the structure of his sentences, his is closer to Samuel Johnson and to William Shakespeare than to modern day English writers and authorities.

A splendid case in study of Jeppiar's deviation from modern English usage will be evident from the following speech. Take a look.

Eg 1 : "Our University to educate for the student, not only syllabus first of all human value education"
Deviation: Verb missing. Full stop missing somewhere there.

Eg 2: "Sellabus only degree, but human value education there is no degree"
Deviation: Grave Pronounciation error. Verb missing in leading phrase. Improper combination of phrases.

Eg 3: "Future life is very peaceful life"
Deviation: Improper use of tenses

Eg 4: "Thats why in our University to introduce all student first of all smart and neat"
Deviation: Er... Improper everything.

Eg 5: "Almost all students, brotherhood important. Sister"
Deviation: Verb missing. Noun independently cannot form a sentence. Misuse of Almost.

Eg 6: "Among the brother of the sister, family life important"
Deviation: Verb Missing. Doesn't convey any sense.


Eg 7: "So that is called in Sathyabhama is the education temple but come to the university we take care the same manner of the father mother what is your father mother what today the same education in Sathyabhama"
Deviation: No English detected.


So, while the rest of the World may accuse Jeppiar of polluting the great language of English, he maintains that the new syntax characterised by total irreverence to the roles traditionally assumed by verbs, adjectives and nouns, will be the future of this language. So, dont be surprised if your grandsons grandson talks Jeppiarish English when you are watching him from heaven or hell or from a time machine or whatever. That'll be their language.

But then Jeppiar is not the only maverick who wishes to do things his own way. There are others who by virtue of their splendid communication skills redefine English everyday.
(To Be Continued...)