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Writing
I used to write poems and short stories in Malayalam. I tried my luck
in English poetry and drama without any luck. I used to write a lot of
letters, and used to get a lot of them. I used to receive an average 500
personal letters a year (that is almost 10 letters a week!), and used to
write more than that.
I was a critic. I still write critical appreciations for poems, short
stories, and essays (both in Malayalam as well as in English) when the author
asks for oneJ.
I am not bad at technical writing (even though one of my supervisors [Mark
Brownstein, Dow Jones] once told me that he was bored to death by reading my
documentation).
I have this honor of one of my works (Ente Oormila) that appeared in Mar Ivanios
college magazine in 1991 reproduced by another budding author (I forgot her
name) with a different title (forgot the title too) in her college magazine
(NSS College, Nilamel) (in 1998, I guess). You can
read some of my e-mails here. Better yet, you can
read my Malayalam blog here.
If somebody is responsible for my writing talents, it is Bijuraj (who is no more with us now) and Fr. Kuriakose (who taught me Malayalam in Mar Ivanios, and gave me the name Santo).
Cricket
I am not a cricketer. I am a cricket lover. I can bat and field, but I think, I am a good bowler. I started off with slow off-spinners
(because I didn't want to run a lot). Now I bowl gentle medium-pace. I used
to be an opener in my school team, but when I played cricket in Bangalore, I
batted at number 11. I regained my opener’s slot with my current cricket club
in Seattle, Sidewinders.
I played cricket under a good number of captains, and I regard Manjit Varma (my school team captain) and Abhilash (my
youngest brother) as the best of the lot. Manjit
was a great thinker of the game while Abhilash was a strategist to the core.
I occasionally captain my team Sidewinders.
I was finding it difficult to explain (to my American
colleagues) why a 5 day game would still be of interest to people like me.
Then I saw an article by Sambit Bal (he is an
editor of Cricinfo): It amazes those unfamiliar
with the game how any sport can hold spectators' interest for five whole
days. Yet it does. Test cricket these days is as absorbing and exciting as it
has ever been. Its idiosyncrasies, its subtleties, its ability to surprise and
startle, its capacity to reveal character: these are the qualities that make
cricket unlike any other field sport, and though its leisurely pace might
seem anachronistic to many who are befuddled by it, it is what makes cricket
the game that it is.
Other Sports
I used to play basketball, badminton, tennis (a little bit), soccer
(very poorly), chess, caroms, softball (yes, what a shame), and very few computer
games. I like watching all kinds of sports except Ice Hockey, Boxing, and
WWF.
Movies
I like watching quality Malayalam movies. I watch English movies once in a
while. Some Tamil movies I've seen are great. I don't like watching Hindi
movies, but I don't dislike those who watch them.
Malayalam Film Songs
I have a small collection of good old Malayalam songs. It is hard to tell
which one is "the song" I like most.
And, of late, something technical also!
I code in C, C++, C#, VB and some of the .NET flavors of these. I mainly use
Visual Studio as my development environment. I am slowly preparing to say goodbye
to MFC. Read more about it here.
Others
I do drama direction. Unfortunately, there is not enough opportunity for
drama direction now. I have directed 3 cool dramas in my college days (and
acted in 2 of them). Many thanks to my friend Anoop Jinadevan,
son of late Mr. M. Jinadevan, MLA, who led me to
this amazing world of drama direction.
I was a quizzer till I met real quizzers around.
I was lucky to be in a TV program (a discussion on the life and times of
Mahatma Gandhi on Doordarshan, TVM) and in an All
India Radio quiz.
I was the Science Faculty Representative of Departments' Students Union, MG
University Campus during 1993-94.
Represented Mar Ivanios College in Kerala
University youth festival in Trivandrum in 1992. Represented MG University
campus in Mahatma Gandhi University youth festival at Thiruvalla
in 1994 and again at Chengannoor in 1995. The only
prize I got in all these 3 youth festivals was a second spot for Malayalam
essay writing.
I am active in Seattle with the activities of Kerala Association of Washington
(KAW), and am one of the founders of qJada.com.
Read Divya's interests.
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