Article 14 - Lazy Humans with Crazy Technology

                 Do you think technology is going crazy, crossing unlimited boundaries, raging beyond control and evolving beyond imagination ? Do you think this smart and crazy technology makes humans so lazy too?  Though I have shared my opinions to these questions in different angles by writing some articles on technology (Article 1, Article 2, Article 3), I thought of writing more on this trending topic. Before technology made you lazy, it made you forget so many important things in your life. Let me just rewind few important events which we forgot or forgetting slowly.

Forgotten are those days when people used to walk miles and miles just to watch their favorite movies, to taste their favorite food, to see the beautiful places around them and so on. Forgotten are those days when younger generation shared their views and thoughts with their parents and elders or listened to their advice. Forgotten to eat healthy breakfast with nutrient enriched food. Forgotten to have a joint family dinner together. Forgotten to use pen or pencil to write or sketch on paper. 

Forgotten to care and observe nature. Forgotten to plant seeds or grow trees. Forgotten to enjoy the sunrise or sunset. Forgotten to enjoy a full moon lit night with shining stars.  Forgotten to enjoy a beautiful rainbow after a showering rain. Forgotten to listen to the music of birds. Forgotten to see, feel and hear the nonstop ocean waves lashing over the cluttered rocks. Forgotten to watch the golden honeybees and colorful butterflies buzzing over the beautiful flowers. Forgotten to breathe natural air or smell the natural fragrances such as the smell of various flowers including roses. 

Now a days the terms walking, running, jogging, swimming are mostly used for losing the body weight, for staying fit, for improving the health, or for participating in the marathon race or athletic games. More work is given to the brain and eyes, spending most of the time seated in one place. In order to visit a friend who is only few minutes walk away, or to buy food items from a near by shop, bikes and cars are called for assistance. Climbing stairs from ground to first floor is a mission impossible task. Technology says "Press button 1 to go to first floor using lift or stand in 1 step until you reach first floor through escalator". Technological inventions are making jobs easy as well as making us lazy. Let us not make it more crazy.

--Siva

Article 13 - Mona of 21st Century

Is this a modern art version of Mona Lisa digitized by a modern Leonardo da Vinci? Then I would call the woman in the painting as Mona and the artist as Leo. What  a change over from Mona Lisa of 16th century to Mona of 21st century. Hats off to Leo. I would guess the title of art as DIGITAL MONA or MONA OF 21st CENTURY or may be MONA LEO !

When I looked at this remix funny painting first, I had to laugh out loud. No offense to the artist Leo. Let me share my thoughts and views on what Leo had tried to portray Mona of 21st century. 

First of all, look at the smile of Mona. I sense a definite improvement over centuries. Then look at that face shining like a Gigawatts LED bulb. I had anticipated to see those magnet eyes hidden behind the sunglasses. Those eyes would stare at you even if you look at it from all 360 degree angles. Seems like she understood the dramatic change of weather, global warming and adverse climatic conditions when she travelled into the current century.

Let me put together the details of painting with a couple of questions to ask artist Leo. Is she taking a selfie with a modern digital camera or asking you to shoot different versions of her? Is that an artificial butterfly sitting on top of her head? Why you have not changed her hair style? Did you not think of a modern dress for Mona - why you left her with the same outfit of old century? What about the background scenery? Why does her left hand look more yellowish than the right one?

I can assume the answers from Leo, if I read his mind correctly. Leo wanted Mona to be more alive and entertaining now with a digital camera in one hand and showing a symbol of victory in the other hand. May be Leo’s caption for this painting would say - Don’t worry, Be happy. Enjoy your freedom. Victory is yours. The camera in her left hand shouts her inner thoughts - Can somebody take my photo? I need to share it soon through social media network like Twitter and Facebook. If no one is willing, I know how to take selfies. I don't want future generations to think that this lady has only one version of painting. The different colors of Mona depicts Unity in Diversity.

Leo may be still working on the hair style and background scenery to fit the current century. May be he is yet to learn and update himself with software tools like Photoshop, Picasa, online image editors etc. Hope he uses the Sfumato touch here too to maintain the realistic painting of Mona. If I can visit Leo in person, I would ask him to try a better Mona of 21st century like a 3D or 4D Mona who pops out of the 77 cm × 53 cm painting and shakes hands with you.

--Siva

Story 1 - What do Babies Think ?

A short story on how babies think.

Baby name: Kevin Hunt

“Crying, Crying, Crying, and always he will cry - is it for food, milk or something bit him or he bit something…...” - Kevin as a 6 months old had no clue when his Mom was holding him and talking to his neighborhood strangers. He was just staring at the baby girl who smiled at him back. He just raised his hand with tiny fingers making a tremendous effort to touch his newbie girl friend. But he was immediately pulled away and he realized he is back indoor with less sound and light now. By the time his mom left him in the cradle, he started crying again. He always loved to be moving than lying still and staring at the roof.

He just saw some dancing dolls moving in circles placed above him. Immediately he stopped crying and started pulling those dolls. He enjoyed crushing and biting them. He was feeling some tickling and prickling sensation all over his body and stomach. He was crying loud enough to alert his mom. She came rushing towards him and fed milk. Kevin felt little better now.

Not again… I cannot lie in that closed wooden thing. He looked angrily at his mom. He was awaken from his little nap when somebody started suffocating him with kisses on his cheek. He started yelling at a loudspeaker decibel sound AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWW. Immediately he bit the thing whatever it was - it was his aunt’s nose. After some deep booming reverberated voices, Kevin stopped his shouting.

He was glad when his dad came in and took him out for a stroll. Kevin’s brain started processing at a terabyte speed when he saw moving things, shades of colors, flying things, dark items and so on. He was excited to touch all of the objects which passed by. He was feeling a strange and sudden wet and hot sensation under his seat and started crying. His dad understood what just happened and fixed the situation.

Kevin was staring at the animals in the zoo now. I want to touch that moving thing  He pointed at a huge python writhing towards him. He heard some roars, chirping sounds which made him giggle. He was excited to see the dolphins dive and wished he could also dive or swim like them. I want to fly over the roof like that He was showing his dad an eagle drifting high above the sky. He closed his eyes when sun rays blocked his view.

It was almost evening. He felt hungry and sleepy at the same time and as usual you know what he would have done. Kevin could not distinguish the different taste he experienced in his mouth. Some made him vomit it right away and some he spilled it knowingly and laughed at his mom. He just started hearing some soft sound which he used to hear every night before he starts to dream. It was a rhyming lullaby from his mom. Kevin always liked to listen to melody music which makes him to stop the flow of salty water from his eyes. He slowly moved to his dream world with his tiny fingers curled around his affectionate mom’s hand.

The End

Story by Siva.

Article 12 - My thoughts on Unicorns

How would I react if I see a Unicorn during a vacation to fantasy world ? My thoughts expanded visually and my brain started capturing it in the form of words below:

Walking alone in the deep dark woods I was almost lost until I saw a bright white light on my way. When the shining light drew nearer to me, I was just feeling relaxed automatically and all my uncontrollable emotions like fear, nervousness, anxiety, rage, anger and so on seems to be drifting away immediately. Totally awestruck and dumbfound, I stood there, the moment I saw a beautiful horse moving towards me. What a pleasant surprise it is !!!!

Wait..... No, it is not a white horse; it is the best fantasy friend I have ever dreamt of. Yes it is a UNICORN, shining bright as white as though the full moon had landed next to my eyes. I just pinched myself to confirm that I am not dreaming myself. Just leaving my eyes and mouth wide open, I was about to shout - OOOHOOOO and WOW. But I didn't want to scare this best magical being to move away from me. Glancing at its enormous wings shining diamond white in dark night, I just kept quiet with tears of happiness edging over my eyes.

 

When those deep blue beautiful eyes just looked at me, I again felt some sort of energy pass through each and every cell of my body. How is it possible to reach different energy levels by just mere sight of a divine soul? I was wondering whether I just entered a fantasy forest or into a realm of magical creatures. Again I stared back at its spiraled horn protruding from its forehead. Is that the horn made of gold or ivory? I was trying to recollect all those library books or online resources on magical creatures I had referred about the Unicorns.

Fixing the unicorn as a fantasy fairy or an angel with wings in my mind, I had completely forgotten where I was standing now. I was standing near to it, tempted to touch which would be the most unforgettable moment of my entire life. But it would not allow me to touch as Unicorns always prefer a woman’s touch. I would have transfigured into a woman if I had known any transfiguration spells or magic, but was afraid if the Unicorn would still recognize my true form even though I am invisible.

The white beauty just moved a little distance backward showing of it’s marvelous thick and coarse manes dancing over the invigorating breeze. It looked again at me as though it can read through all my sweetest memories within seconds.  Finally it bowed the head towards me allowing me to touch the horn.  All my emotions flooded with positive vibrations and optimistic reactions in that split second when I touched it.  It just healed my entire body liberating even minute unseen injuries nurturing my spirit into a pure heart and blessed soul.  The entire forest around me changed into a heavenly place with amazing flowers booming out of each and every corner leaving hundred percent happiness, infinite inspiration and peace within me.

--Siva

Article 11 - Mixing of Spoken Languages

                                         Evolution of natural human languages was the topic in discussion in my previous article. English is a common international language being spoken by every one now a days. As a mode of fast communication, a common language becomes a necessity day by day. Similar to a smart phone which is out of station or without proper signal, a common language is not reachable to every single person on this planet. Reasons may be multiple - but I think illiteracy and poverty are the major factors which stop one from learning a common language. So before a common language gets into the human brain, it gets occupied with mother tongue languages or the languages fed to any human child born in this planet. From a scientific point of view, human language is considered as one language, as it differs from animals or birds or other living organisms except humans. Multiple factors like modulation, vocabulary, accent, speech style, regional dialects etc have induced an infinite variation or wide diversity in the human languages spoken around the world. 
 

            
                              Like a karaoke remix for music, we have a remix for the human languages as well. For example - Hindi + English = Hinglish, Tamil + English = Tanglish etc. It also goes a step ahead by mixing Original Language + Regional Language + International Language + Some Uknown New Words :)  Some may argue that this mixing is just another form of evolution of spoken languages. Some may argue that this leads to the endangerment of native authentic language itself. I will leave this debate to the linguistic scholars or researchers as they have enough knowledge already on this subject. As per my point of view, we can try to at least learn more vocabulary of our own native languages and avoid some mixing elements right from childhood. Another research says that most of the people does not even speak their own mother tongue or they stopped speaking it. 

                              Once we are fluent and proficient in the learnt language, why not speak it without mixing other languages in it. I guess the chance of mixing international language English is more in regional languages than vice versa. Just think how it will be when some one mixes their native language words into fluent English while they speak. I agree this mixing occurs more for a learner who learns a new language to convey the message to the person who knows it. As they become fluent in languages, they should stop mixing it. So bottom line is if you know one language, try to know it proper (this doesn't mean you have to get a PhD. on it or learn it 100% perfect) at least to communicate correctly to another person who knows the same language well.
 
 We are still not sure how or what our ancestors would have spoken or what would have been the words used by them a millennium ago. If you are interested more in the history of it, you can Google it but you may not get the accurate results. As humanity itself is evolving, we cannot stop the evolution of languages spoken by humans. At least saving humanity or any species in this world may be a matter to worry about but not the evolution of it. Where does this evolution of languages lead us to ? To a common language or single language in the near future - science and technology may have the answer. 
 
 I am sure most of us who know English can speak it without any break for hours without mixing other language words. So the challenge of this article is: Can you speak your mother tongue language (if you don't know it, please try to learn it soon) without mixing other language words for at least 10 minutes ? If you win the challenge, you can confidently say you have given some benefit in learning your own native language. Let the evolution of human spoken languages continue in a proper way....

-- Siva

Article 10 - Importance Of Natural Human Language

                                   Have you ever observed the variations or changes occurring in the usage of natural human languages (not the computer programming languages) spoken currently with the language spoken a decade ago or a century ago or a millennium ago. You would have at least felt the change if you have read the articles,news,books,manuscripts etc published or watched any conversation videos, documentaries, movies, audio or video recordings between different time periods.

It has not only changed in the speaking skill, but also in the other basic language skills - reading, listening and writing. There is a major impact on the vocabulary, fluency and pronunciation of any language. Spelling, grammar, style and effective communication (intrapersonal and interpersonal) of the language are other important aspects which gets affected after the basic skills. 

Similar to the endangered species, even the words used in any language are also becoming endangered or even the language itself is losing its unique identity and clarity. Now a days we are speaking more with less words repeating same words again and again all the time. Once we finish our studies in school or college or any higher studies, we gradually forget the vocabulary we learnt so far and we also feel lazy to improve the vocabulary moving forward in life or career. This happens in both oral or verbal and written or non-verbal communication.

Saving one's own native language is one of the important task in the current century. As far as I have observed, the important point on improving the vocabulary is : Read, Listen, Learn and Use (verbal and non-verbal) a new word every day. As I am not here to teach how to read or speak, you will get plenty of articles, training classes, communication sessions available online itself to improve the enriched vocabulary, fluency, pronunciation and any skill essential for pointing out the importance of language. 

Research shows that starting from now onward to another century, 50% to 90% of currently spoken languages would have become extinct. Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Google are the major internet resources where we can find out the history of language,dictionary of words, thesaurus, endangered languages, statistics of the current century languages etc. 

Most of the linguistic scholars and researchers believe that language endangerment is an ongoing process and it cannot be stopped. May be after a millennium, human beings may start using the same language where they started the origin of the language (for example - sign forms, touch and feel forms etc as we have no direct evidence on the origin, these are just my assumptions). Those who are interested to know more on the origin of language can have it read on Wikipedia or a simple search in Google will lead to it.

Another thing I noticed is there is a lot of mixing between the natural or mother tongue languages forming a new language every minute. I will continue on the mixing of spoken and native natural languages in my next article.

--Siva

Article 9 - Review on Historical Novel Vengayin Mainthan

                Vengaiyin Mainthan which has the word meaning as Tiger's Son, but the real meaning what author meant is Raja Raja Chola's (Comparison to Tiger as Chola dynasty's flag symbol had Tiger depicted in it) Son - Rajendra Chola. This is yet another famous historical Tamil novel written by Akilan - one of the reputed historical writer,novelist and freedom fighter for India.The novel was published in the year 1963.

                              Author Akilan got the Sahithya Academy Award from Government of India for this charismatic and entertaining historical fiction.The plot revolves around the historical places Tanjai (presently Tanjore in Tamil Nadu),Madurai, Vengi(At present areas around Andhra Pradesh),Kodumbalur (presently around Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu), Eezham or Rohanam(Currently Srilanka), Nagapattinam(sea port of Chola),Kadaram (Presently Indonesia) and so many surrounding places of Tamil Nadu.The hero of the novel is Elango who as per orders of king Rajendra invades Srilanka to restore the glory of Chola by recovering the crown and jewels thus withstanding the respect of entire Chola dynasty. The novel discusses the Srilankan invasion, Ganges expedition, Chalukya Pandiyas Srilankan wars against Cholas. But under Rajendra's reign, Chola got victory against all their enemies. For Raja Raja Chola - if the title suits is Ponniyin Selvan - then for his son Rajendra Chola it is obviously Vengaiyin Mainthan.

Insight On Historical Characters

                    From the beginning till the end, as usual Hero Elangovel shines through his bravery, will power, stunts, talents, spying, friendship,love,affection. But every hero has his own weakness , so for Elango it is romance and anger which brings some danger to his life though all is well at the end.So this danger starts for Elango when he meets Rohini - the Srilankan princess and falls in love with her. Elango's heroism is captivated by the love shown by Rohini . At the same time, it also puts him into danger as the same love deviates Elango from performing his duty for Chola king Rajendra. 

Speaking about the title role - Rajendra Chola 1 definitely puts his presence every now and then through out the story. His daughter Arulmozhi - the character which has patience and ready to sacrifice any thing (even her love for Elango-Rohini's love) really touches the heart of audience. Vallavarayan Vanthiyathevar at his young age was the hero in famous historical novel Ponniyin Selvan, but this novel visualizes him at his older age giving moral support to the king as well as the brave warrior Elango. Other minor good characters are the friends and relations of heroes and heroines of the novel like Mangudi Maran(guard and friend of Elango), Mithirai(friend of Rohini), Ammangai Devi(sister of Arulmozhi or second daughter of Rajendra), Narendran (Vengi prince), Araiyan Raja Rajan, Rajendra's sons Rajadhiraja Chola, Rajendra Chola II, Kodumbalur Periya Velir(Elango's father) etc.

That said about the good characters of the novel, we will have to discuss about the baddies as well. Rohanam forests (presently areas around Srilanka) are the locations where Srilankan King Magindhar and his minister Keerthy resides and plans against Cholas in the initial phase of the novel.Rohini is none other than the daughter of King Magindhar also known as Princess of Rohanam in the story.She has a brother Kasibhan who also joins with Minister Keerthy for the villain side.Elango's friend Veeramallan who initially supports Chola joins hands with Pandiyan king Sundara Pandiyan and his army chief Perumbidugu Mutharayan and plots against Chola king and turns out to be a traitor to his own friend Elango.Other bad characters are Kanthulan (deputy or guard of King Maginthar), army men of Pandiyas and Srilankan etc.

Historical Time Machine

If we had a time machine , then I would have used it to visit Raja Raja Chola and Rajendra Chola and their long lasting Chola dynasty or empire or kingdoms though we have the temples built by them as historical proof till date. Raja Raja Chola's Tanjore Big Temple or Brahadeeswarar temple and Rajendra Chola's Gangai Konda Cholapuram temples and sculptures clearly explains the hard work and effort put by the king,his country men, sculptors, his army men, guards and all the people involved during their reign. Gangai Konda Cholapuram which means Ganges river brought by Cholas by defeating the enemy rulers against Cholas - is considered as the second capital of Chola dynasty after Tanjore.

This historical novel definitely takes you to that historical time period of Rajendra Chola around 1010 AD, triggers the excitement and eager to visit the marvelous temples, places and locations.Since we do not have a working physical time machine, we wont have to worry about it as there is no limit to the imaginary visual time machine built by your mind :)

--Siva...

Article 8 - Review on Historical Novel Parthibhan Kanavu

Parthibhan Kanavu - Sequel to Sivagamiyin Sabatham
                     Parthibhan Kanavu (1941-43) - Dream of Chola king Parthibhan - Though this novel can be considered as a sequel to Sivagamiyin Sabatham, this novel was published even before Sivagamiyin Sabatham(1944-46). This novel was later made into a Tamil movie with the same name in 1960 starring Gemini Ganesan, S.V.Ranga Rao and  Vyjayanthimala.

This sequel novel explains the later stages of Pallava king Mamalla or Narasimhavarman and his effort to make Chola King Parthibha's dream true based on the promise given during Parthiban's last moments of life. 

Also it outlines the ruling period of Pallava dynasty, sculptures, art and culture followed during the reign of Pallavas. While reading  the novel, we can visualize the then Mamallapuram, Uraiyur (Capital of Cholas), Thanjavur and Kanchi - streets decorated by people for festivals, soldiers marching in horses and elephants for war, Princess carried in a palanquin through the main streets around the temples, king's path, canoes, boats and ferries floating in river Ponni or Cauvery, islands, sea ports, beaches, art gallery halls, kingdoms, palaces, courtyards, groves, flowers, garden, secret tunnels, store houses, nature and so on...

Twist and Turns

The novel starts with Chola King Parthibhan explaining about how the Chola kingdom should prosper in the near future to his son - Prince Vikraman. He shows his dreams in the form of paintings drawn by himself which is an art gallery located in Uraiyur art hall. In a particular painting, he had depicted a huge army marching to war with hundreds and thousands of soldiers, horses and elephants. In front of the army, an elephant is moving forward with only a mahout riding with an empty seat allocated for a king.  We would understand that his dream already came true after 300 years by King Raja Raja Chola.

The suspense thriller continues in this novel making the reader suspicious about Monk character and Spy Veerasenan for some time emerging out as Pallava king Narasimhavarman himself in disguise to know the truth of many other secrets.It also revolves around the romantic moments between Vikraman - son of King Parthibhan and Kunthavi - daughter of King Narasimhavarman.

The real twist I felt - when I came to know Kabala Bairavar who roams with a single hand frightening others in novel Parthibhan Kanavu- is none other than Nagananthi or Nilekesi who is better known as the cunning Buddhist monk in the novel Sivagamiyin Sabatham. That is revealed towards the end of the story by Siruthondar (devotee of Lord Shiva) or better known as Paranjothi - Ex-Army chief of Pallavas.This is definitely one more adventure trip novel from Kalki which keeps the reader busy through out the novel.

Rest of the Characters

This novel has been split into 3 parts by author Kalki Krishnamurthy. Other than the main characters like King Narasimhavarman, King Parthibhan, Prince Vikrama, Princess Kunthavi, Siruthondar and Villain Kabala Bairavar, there are so many other characters which plays an important role in moving the plot of the story. Ponnan, Valli, Maarappa Bupathi, Queen ArulMozhi Devi (King Parthibhan's wife and mother of Prince Vikraman). 

The narrator and author Kalki handles all these characters with such ease that the readers are fully occupied with their conversations, acts and thoughts. Also the author highlights about the superstitious beliefs followed in history like human sacrifice for favorite deities in temples hidden in forests, gathering the skeletons and worshiping them etc and how the Pallava king tries to eradicate those blind fold beliefs.

Though some fiction characters are embedded in this historical novel, we would not miss the deeds of real historical figures, their ruling time period, people, art, culture, the temples and historical buildings constructed and the language. 

Lets meet on another historical novel review in my next article.

--Siva

POEM 13 - COMPUTER

Everyone started Mathematics Calculations 

using Computer

and started giving rest to human brain...!

Everyone started writing poems, thoughts and articles

using Computer

and started forgetting to use pen, pencil and slate...!

Everyone started drawing, sketching and painting

using Computer

and started forgetting painting brush and paper...!

Everyone started watching movies, hearing songs etc

in Computer 

and started getting bored of going to movie theaters and drama stages...!

Everyone started playing games 

in Computer 

while the play ground and swimming ponds are deserted...!

Everyone started online relations 

in Computer

as friends and relations stopped calling over phone or talking directly...!

Everyone started working online sitting all day in same place

in front of Computer

giving rest to physical body and mind...!

Everyone started using Computer in all forms:

Laptops, Palmtops, Smart Phones, 

Transparent Glasses, Projector Screens, LCD, LED along with Internet,

so much that everyone started to feel all alone in a virtual digital world and started forgetting to enjoy this big and beautiful real world...!

--Siva

Article 7 - Review on Sivagamiyin Sabatham

Sivagamiyin Sabatham which means Sivagami's vow is a mega tamil historical novel written by veteran author Kalki Krishnamurthy in the year 1944. This novel is regarded as one of the best novel along with mega hit novel Ponniyin Selvan from the same author.

This novel briefly talks about the Pallava dynasty and the ruling period of Pallavas.The basic plot revolves around the real life characters such as Mahendravarman, the emperor of Pallava dynasty, his son Narasimhavarman a.k.a Mamalla and Chalukya king Pulikesi. It grabs you to the historical time period of Pallava dynasty who ruled 1500 years ago in southern parts of India. It pulls you to see the cities Kanchi (Kanchipuram located in TamilNadu,India) and Vatapi (currently Badami located in Karnataka, India) of that time when Pallavas and Chalukyas ruled.

It also involves the fictional characters starting from the main character of the story - Sivagami - the love interest of Narasimha , her father Aayanar who is a master sculptor (Chirpi in Tamil), Paranjothi who later becomes the chief commander of Pallava army and Naganandhi a.k.a Nilekesi (Twin brother of Pulikesi) who can be considered as the secret villain of the story.I enjoyed reading this novel from the beginning to the end since it makes you mesmerizing and stick to the historical period which you would have dreamt of. It varies from dance to art, spying to war and each part of the entire novel gives the thrilling moment to read on.

Historical Spy Work and Romantic Thriller

If you are interested in reading historical novels, books, fiction , fantasy stories this book is for you. Though the entire novel's original version is written in Tamil, I guess some body would have translated this book in English. The book is actually split into 4 parts as follows:

Part 1: Paranjothi's Journey
Part 2: Seige of Kanchi
Part 3: The Monk's Love
Part 4: Shattered Dream

The PDF format or Ebook of this novel has around 570 pages which may be much more in the original book as it includes the images and pictures of the characters sketched by artist Maniam who has done his best to illustrate the locations by exploring different cities such as Ajanta, Ellora, Kanchi, Badami(Vatapi), Hampi etc. Even Kalki have done his home work before starting the writing.The novel deals with the unique and famous dance Bharatanatiyam, art and sculptures of Pallavas leading to the historical place Mammallapuram which even exists today (Chennai,TamilNadu).Overall the novel is a historical spy work plus romantic thriller.

Historical Adventure

This historical novel is one of my favorite after Ponniyin Selvan.
It is a historical adventure in my opinion which clearly briefs about art,dance,sculptures and historical incidents. Especially when Mahendravarman enters Vatapi as Vajrabahu from the hero side and Nilekesi enters Kanchi as Naganandhi from the villain side rises the expectations of reader.The end of the novel is an ultimate twist which reader would have never expected.

The journey of Paranjothi as a normal villager to Paranjothiyar as the commander in chief of Pallava army speaks about the evolution of character in different parts of the story.The sequences such as love between Narasimha and Sivagami which is broken by the vow of Sivagami,Sivagami residing in the enemy state Vatapi under Chalukya king Pulikesi, Naganandhi turning situations like a fast moving snake really keeps the reader busy.

Overall, this is one of the book worth reading for a Tamil historical novel.

--Siva Subramanian