Chronicles of Nevin: Drool, gnaw and headbutt

I hope to make this a series so that I can cut down on the readers who are visiting this blog. Hah! Caught your attention.

Well, you know how new parents are, bragging about their baby, posting pictures after pictures, flooding their friend and family’s Facebook to the point that they actually reach for  a razor blade to sever their vital blood vessel, only to realise that it is Mach 3 Turbo shaving blade.

But, this is a blog, which is a shortened version of Weblog, which means I damn well write whatever pleased me, and I am going to keep it as a chronicle on my son – Nevin Shankaran Kumar. Which also means there will mention of lots of drool and poop.

Humorist Dave Barry once wrote that babies are gigantic drool  machines, and I concur as I wipe the big deposit Nevin left on his dad’s wrist (he tried gnawing on only let it go after hearing his dad’s stern whimpering).

Seriously, where does that gobs of spit come from, they are more than the milk he’s drinking. We’d be watching TV, him on my lap when a sudden moist starts to form on my wrist, or palm or any part of my hand that attracted my soon-to-be carnivorous son.

I did a google search on baby and drool and realised that actually the drool is good for him. It helps to clean the teeth (in his case, the gum) and helps with stomach acid. But with most of the drool all over mom and dad, how is it going to help him?

And then there’s the teething (or gum gnawing as I call it). We got him few of those teething toys but I think it would be a matter of months before he swallows those things. The way he pushes it into the mouth you actually feel sorry for the toy.

Oh, and did I mention about his thick skull.

No I am not insulting him. Apparently he does have skull of steel, just ask my wife. One day while she was playing with him, he fell forward (the neck still weak that time) and “bang!” my wife’s gum was bleeding. And he was unaffected. I myself got many back-headed knocks on my nose, cheek, shoulder and dammit, indifferent, he simply went on with his business of disseminating drool.

Nevin has now started on solid food. Well, not too solid, rice porridge with bits of potato or carrot all blended beyond recognition. He seemed to love it; hopefully it will lessen the drinking of his formula milk, a box which costs about the same as the GDP of Falkland Island.

He’s six month plus now (14^th August),and damn, time does not only fly, it beams by. He has started talking gibberish, as usual, but you know how baby gibberish are – cute and speculative. We would translate them liberally. Like, “He is saying he loves accha (dad),” ; “No, he says he loves amma (mom),” ; “But…okay, dear. Agree with you. You can put down the weapon now. Slowly.”

I recently gave him a hair trim. This is opposing my mom’s insistence (“this is not about religion”, said twice a day praying Hindu lady) that he should be tonsured (thanks Ajay Baskar for that word). Surprise, he came out looking like mini-Bruce Willis (as per the same Ajay’s comment).

He is a bit slow, just started turning over like that roasted chicken you see in at restaurant roasters, when he’s supposed to attempt crawling. But he’s happy go lucky kid as recently demonstrated when after rolling off the mattress we laid for him on the floor, he banged his head backwards on the floor and then went on smiling and attempted to communicate to his feet in extreme close proximity.

So there you go, Nevin at his sixth month. A wonderful journey for parents who wkjiojfdlkjfasf ….oh crap, he drooled on the keyboard..mplkjijojirera;lknlslsdflasjf….

1973 (left) and 2012 (right)

Karnan 2012

A 48 year old Tamizh film. An epic classic. A masterpiece that showcased the greatest on-screen actor ever at his finest performance.

Yes, I am talking about Meenava Nanban.

Hah, got you! You know what I am talking about, Karnan, digitally remastered with DTS sound, released to an astounding success (150 days in Tamil Nadu, and worldwide release past one week). It has been my dream to watch a proper Sivaji Ganesan movie at the big screen and the rerelease is heaven sent.

Sort of.

This is an old well-known movie so we don’t need spoiler disclaimer. And you probably know the characters. 

Aside: Sivaji Ganesan is also known as Awesomesestest Actor among the Tamizh film industry, Nadigar Thilagam in that languag, so it will be abbreviated as NT henceforth. End of Aside.

Let’s get to the movie. One of the most fascinating scene in the movie will have to be the climax where NT  (Karnan) dies. And stays dead for a long time while characters around him bereaves.

But before that, NT spends equally long time dying while Krishna croons one of the most saddest song ever in the industry. Thank god it was by MSV/TKR, if it was Harris Jeyaraj Karnan would have voluntarily pulled out an arrow and slit his own throat.

But the fascinating thing is the revelation by Krishna that Karnan, who received arrows at the wrong end from Arjunan was killed six times before.

One was the time when Lord Indiran came in disguise to ask for Karnan’s armour and ear-ring thingy (the elaborate one) which were attached to the body. Karnan had to cut it off, and when Indiran realises the true magnanimity of Karnan, still keeps the armour but cleanses Karnan’s blood-drenched body.

It’s like you running over a stray cat, and with remorse you come back and cleans its blood.

Then you have the big-time mentor who teaches Karnan the use of the powerful but aerodynamically challenged snake arrow. Karnan has to pretend that he is a Brahmin in order to qualify as a student. But right after Karnan has finished the study, the mentor finds out the truth and curses Karnan ensuring that the damn arrow will not work at crucial moment. I am not sure if the mentor refunded the fee.

Then you have his mother Gunthi Devi asking for two boons, one, to not to kill Arjuna. And two not to use the snake arrow twice. When issuing the second Boon NT would be standing behind the open chest (which carried him as a baby, you know the story) and when she’s done asking, he slams it shut, almost saying, “I am screwed”. That is NT for you.

I mention all this because when Krishna reminds you of the incidents, it make you want to go back and watch the movie again and realise that this dude Karnan is basically screwed from beginning. Like having a perpetual dark stormy cloud over his head, which you will not see in this movie for two reasons.

One. It never was there, it was a figure of speech.

Two, because of the goddam reformatting. You see instead of original format, the new producers cut off the top and bottom of the frame to make the film widescreen. Now you can’t see the full head of other characters, as if the director wanted to hide Karnan’s male pattern baldness.

The supposed restoration of the print was bull in most parts. Most of the time the scratches, the splotches of colour are still there. The added on audio was a joke and it steadily becomes an insult to the original music when synthesiser comes in. The foley is fine though.

Despite the so-called “improvement” are middle-finger showing to the original creator’s vision, Karnan 2012 is massively watchable.

Fantastic all round performance, great script and wonderful songs.

Of acting, I’ll come to NT later. The next notable character, Krishna, was played with a zest by NT Rama Rao. But then he has been playing that character and its avatars for years that they are like second life for him.

And Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan. What can I say? As someone in the forum I am a member of put aptly, “We are not worthy…” to discuss his performance.

You will leave the theatre with a heavy feeling, mostly with visuals of NT walking, storming, crying, roaring, staring deep into your soul with those scorching eyes and much more.

I cannot imagine the impact of this film when it first came out; the audience must have not seen anything rich like this. What am I talking about? Even the younger generation will find it to be a fascinating experience.

I hear the next film to be restored is Thiruvilayadal. I hope they do a better job this time so that I can at least see Lord Shiva’s goddam trident.

NT as Karnan, reacting to the new added-on sounds.

Note: Actually the first boon Gunthi Devi asks is to spare the life of her children, but Karnan says he has to kill Arjunan. Anyway, if either Karnan or Arjunan dies, she still have five sons, he'd assure her. Thanks Joe for pointing the mistake out.