****************************************************************************************************************************
...The next day General Littlefield summoned me to his office. He
was swatting flies when I went in. I was silent and he was silent too, for a
long time. I don't think he remembered me or why he had sent for me, but
he didn't want to admit it. He swatted some more flies, keeping his eyes on
them narrowly before he let go with the swatter. “Button up your coat!” he
snapped. Looking back on it now I can see that he meant me although he
was looking at a fly, but I just stood there. Another fly came to rest on a
paper in front of the general and began rubbing its hind legs together. The
general lifted the swatter cautiously. I moved restlessly and the fly flew
away. “You startled him!” barked General Littlefield, looking at me
severely. I said I was sorry. “That won't help the situation!” snapped the
General, with cold military logic. I didn't see what I could do except offer
to chase some more flies toward his desk, but I didn't say anything. He
stared out the window at the faraway figures of coeds crossing the campus
toward the library.
Finally, he told me I could go. So I went. He either didn't know
which cadet I was or else he forgot what he wanted to see me about. It may
have been that he wished to apologize for having called me the main
trouble with the university; or maybe he had decided to compliment me on
my brilliant drilling of the day before and then at the last minute decided
not to. I don't know. I don't think about it much anymore.
...James Thurber....University Years
Eega is Telugu for housefly...in fact the houseful-fly as it turned out.
Ishani, her mom and dad, went to the Inorbit Mall last year to watch a Telugu movie. After they got back I asked Ishani what the title of the movie was. And she replied:
"Eega"
And I was curious if it was some sort of Nat Geo stuff for kids. But my son told me, no, it was a romantic blockbuster with a housefly as its facilitating heroine. And that this Eega was going round all the time on her noble business. And I was wondering how a housefly could be made to do all those feats. And was told that the Eega in it was the latest in Computer Graphics Animation. And that the animation was done by a Hyderabadi team and it was so good that people didn't believe it was done in India.
Hmm!
So animation has reached its pinnacle leaving me far behind with the 'Lion King' I watched in the Netaji Auditorium at IIT KGP all of 20 years ago with my kid-son. That movie had no human characters (with breasts) while our 'Eega' is apparently the only non-human lady in its title movie.
There are flies and flies in English...housefly, butterfly, dragonfly...not to talk of the fly that goes up and down our pants. In Telugu too there are many eegas apart from our housefly...kandireega (wasp), teneteega (honey bee), tooneega (dragonfly)...
But the housefly is the toughest to kill manually. Wasp is the most delicate of flies...just a dab with a badminton racket downs it and kills it instantly.
Eega on the other hand is the swiftest in takeoff and landing...its pickup is fantastic. And it is endowed with all-round vision (not jut peripheral)...like Calvin's mom. And so it frustrates, evades, and escapes attacks of even Generals like Littlefield and his Commandos.
My rented home in Vizagh during my university years was full of flies. And all I had as my weapon was a wooden meter scale to try and hit flies with. I was never very successful...say 2%...the collision cross section of a meter stick being so tiny. And I couldn't attack the fly that landed on my nose with a meter stick without taking a bleeding cut on my own beak.
The problem with a lone fly landing on a (lone) nose is not that it bites it like a mosquito. I am sure many, including me, can stand a mosquito bite for the nonce without wincing.
But eega tickles the nose with its hind legs, God knows what pleasure it gets thereof. And any sort of tickling on so sensitive an organ as a human nose can only be withstood with supreme forbearance by superhumans...none else, none else... as the Kathopanishad says:
When Ishani was in her nursery class 2 years ago she once came to me for a story. And I remembered the story of an Eega that was doing the rounds (the story, that is) when I myself was a kid in Muthukur which was replete with houseflies and donkeys. And I narrated it to Ishani with all sorts of mono-action gestures and vocal effects. And she remembers it and was asking for a repeat performance yesterday.
The story goes like this:
An eega was mopping the floor of her mud house and suddenly forgot her own name. And was worried and couldn't recall it despite several attempts and was forlorn.
She then flew out of her house to consult experts in such matters.
She first met an ambling kitty cat and asked her politely:
"Uncle, uncle, I forgot my name. Could you please tell me?"
"How do I know your name?...Mine own is...let me see...hoon...Kitty Cat...meeow meeow..."
And left.
Eega then walked on and met a sleepy puppy and asked:
And after several such unsuccessful attempts, our eega met a grazing donkey and landed gently on his nose. And asked:
And the donkey was so much tickled by the fly rubbing her hind legs on his nose that he started braying aloud:
"Heee Haaa....Heee Haaa...Heee Haaa..."
And our eega then suddenly remembered her own name and said:
"Thank you Uncle, for telling me my name...Eee Gaa...Eee Gaa...thank you once again"
And she went home happily and scribbled her name on her mud wall, as a mnemonic for future reference:
"My name is Eega...whenever you forget your name in future, just ask Donkey Uncle (with a fly on his nose)"
...Posted by Ishani
**************************************************************************************************************************
Eega (Translation: Fly) is a 2012 Indian Telugu romantic fantasy film. The film was written and directed by S S Rajamouli and it stars Nani, Samantha and Sudeep in the lead roles. The film was produced simultaneously in Teluguby Sai Korrapati and Tamil as Naan Ee (Translation: I am a Fly) by Prasad Vara Potluri. The music of the film was composed by M. M. Keeravani. K. K. Senthil Kumar, Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao and Ravinder Reddy helmed cinematography, editing and art direction respectively.
The animation and visual effects were supervised by Rahul Venugopal, Adel Adili, and Pete Draper of Makuta Effects...
...wiki
...The next day General Littlefield summoned me to his office. He
was swatting flies when I went in. I was silent and he was silent too, for a
long time. I don't think he remembered me or why he had sent for me, but
he didn't want to admit it. He swatted some more flies, keeping his eyes on
them narrowly before he let go with the swatter. “Button up your coat!” he
snapped. Looking back on it now I can see that he meant me although he
was looking at a fly, but I just stood there. Another fly came to rest on a
paper in front of the general and began rubbing its hind legs together. The
general lifted the swatter cautiously. I moved restlessly and the fly flew
away. “You startled him!” barked General Littlefield, looking at me
severely. I said I was sorry. “That won't help the situation!” snapped the
General, with cold military logic. I didn't see what I could do except offer
to chase some more flies toward his desk, but I didn't say anything. He
stared out the window at the faraway figures of coeds crossing the campus
toward the library.
Finally, he told me I could go. So I went. He either didn't know
which cadet I was or else he forgot what he wanted to see me about. It may
have been that he wished to apologize for having called me the main
trouble with the university; or maybe he had decided to compliment me on
my brilliant drilling of the day before and then at the last minute decided
not to. I don't know. I don't think about it much anymore.
...James Thurber....University Years
Eega is Telugu for housefly...in fact the houseful-fly as it turned out.
Ishani, her mom and dad, went to the Inorbit Mall last year to watch a Telugu movie. After they got back I asked Ishani what the title of the movie was. And she replied:
"Eega"
And I was curious if it was some sort of Nat Geo stuff for kids. But my son told me, no, it was a romantic blockbuster with a housefly as its facilitating heroine. And that this Eega was going round all the time on her noble business. And I was wondering how a housefly could be made to do all those feats. And was told that the Eega in it was the latest in Computer Graphics Animation. And that the animation was done by a Hyderabadi team and it was so good that people didn't believe it was done in India.
Hmm!
So animation has reached its pinnacle leaving me far behind with the 'Lion King' I watched in the Netaji Auditorium at IIT KGP all of 20 years ago with my kid-son. That movie had no human characters (with breasts) while our 'Eega' is apparently the only non-human lady in its title movie.
There are flies and flies in English...housefly, butterfly, dragonfly...not to talk of the fly that goes up and down our pants. In Telugu too there are many eegas apart from our housefly...kandireega (wasp), teneteega (honey bee), tooneega (dragonfly)...
But the housefly is the toughest to kill manually. Wasp is the most delicate of flies...just a dab with a badminton racket downs it and kills it instantly.
Eega on the other hand is the swiftest in takeoff and landing...its pickup is fantastic. And it is endowed with all-round vision (not jut peripheral)...like Calvin's mom. And so it frustrates, evades, and escapes attacks of even Generals like Littlefield and his Commandos.
My rented home in Vizagh during my university years was full of flies. And all I had as my weapon was a wooden meter scale to try and hit flies with. I was never very successful...say 2%...the collision cross section of a meter stick being so tiny. And I couldn't attack the fly that landed on my nose with a meter stick without taking a bleeding cut on my own beak.
The problem with a lone fly landing on a (lone) nose is not that it bites it like a mosquito. I am sure many, including me, can stand a mosquito bite for the nonce without wincing.
But eega tickles the nose with its hind legs, God knows what pleasure it gets thereof. And any sort of tickling on so sensitive an organ as a human nose can only be withstood with supreme forbearance by superhumans...none else, none else... as the Kathopanishad says:
When Ishani was in her nursery class 2 years ago she once came to me for a story. And I remembered the story of an Eega that was doing the rounds (the story, that is) when I myself was a kid in Muthukur which was replete with houseflies and donkeys. And I narrated it to Ishani with all sorts of mono-action gestures and vocal effects. And she remembers it and was asking for a repeat performance yesterday.
The story goes like this:
An eega was mopping the floor of her mud house and suddenly forgot her own name. And was worried and couldn't recall it despite several attempts and was forlorn.
She then flew out of her house to consult experts in such matters.
She first met an ambling kitty cat and asked her politely:
"Uncle, uncle, I forgot my name. Could you please tell me?"
"How do I know your name?...Mine own is...let me see...hoon...Kitty Cat...meeow meeow..."
And left.
Eega then walked on and met a sleepy puppy and asked:
"Uncle, uncle, I forgot my name. Could you please tell me?"
"How do I know your name?...Mine own is...let me see...hoon...Snoopy Puppy...bow wow...bow wow"
And after several such unsuccessful attempts, our eega met a grazing donkey and landed gently on his nose. And asked:
"Uncle, uncle, I forgot my name. Could you please tell me?"
And the donkey was so much tickled by the fly rubbing her hind legs on his nose that he started braying aloud:
"Heee Haaa....Heee Haaa...Heee Haaa..."
And our eega then suddenly remembered her own name and said:
"Thank you Uncle, for telling me my name...Eee Gaa...Eee Gaa...thank you once again"
And she went home happily and scribbled her name on her mud wall, as a mnemonic for future reference:
"My name is Eega...whenever you forget your name in future, just ask Donkey Uncle (with a fly on his nose)"
...Posted by Ishani
**************************************************************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment