Poems That I Like:

Even This Shall Pass Away- Theodore Tilton

Once in Persia reigned a king,

Who upon his signet ring

Graved a maxim true and wise,

Which, if held before his eyes,

Gave him counsel at a glance

Fit for every change and chance.

Solemn words, and these are they;

“Even this shall pass away.”

Trains of camels through the sand

Brought him gems from Samarcand;

Fleets of galleys through the seas

Brought him pearls to match with these;

But he counted not his gain

Treasures of the mine or main;

“What is wealth?” the king would say;

“Even this shall pass away.”

‘Mid the revels of his court,

At the zenith of his sport,

When the palms of all his guests

Burned with clapping at his jests,

He, amid his figs and wine,

Cried, “O loving friends of mine;

Pleasures come, but not to stay;

‘Even this shall pass away.’ ”

Lady, fairest ever seen,

Was the bride he crowned his queen.

Pillowed on his marriage bed,

Softly to his soul he said:

“Though no bridegroom ever pressed

Fairer bosom to his breast,

Mortal flesh must come to clay-

Even this shall pass away.”

Fighting on a furious field,

Once a javelin pierced his shield;

Soldiers with a loud lament,

Bore him bleeding to his tent.

Groaning from his tortured side,

“Pain is hard to bear,” he cried;

“But with patience, day by day,

Even this shall pass away.”

Towering in the Public Square,

Twenty cubits in the air,

Rose his statue, carved in stone.

Then the king, disguised, unknown,

Stood before his sculptured name,

Musing meekly: “What is fame?

Fame is but a slow decay;

Even this shall pass away.”

Struck with palsy, sore and old,

Waiting at the Gates of Gold,

Said he with his dying breath,

“Life is done, but what is death?”

Then, in answer to the king,

Fell a sunbeam on his ring,

Showing by a heavenly ray,

“Even this shall pass away.”

TOP TEN PUNCH DIALOGUES

Punch dialogues, contrary to popular opinion, are not something new and they have always there in movies, even in Hollywood ones, for that matter. For a punch dialogue to reach the masses and to remain in their consciousness, it is not required that the dialogue should get repeated often. Clark Gable’s ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn’ in ‘Gone with the wind’ has been one of the immortal lines ever. Which tells you that a dialogue just delivered once with telling effect is enough. And who can forget Marlon Brando’s ‘Make me an offer I can’t refuse’ in ‘Godfather’.

For a punch dialogue to enter the hall of fame, it should meet certain qualifications. One, it should be able to stand the test of time; another is that the dialogue should get so popular that it should unobtrusively become part of our everyday language.

Have a look at our collection of some of the best ‘punch’ dialogues ever to grace the Tamil silver screen!

1.‘Naan oru thadavai sonna nooru thadavai sonna madiri’ – If one were to name a dialogue as the ‘mother of all punch dialogues’, then this one. This immortal quote has been the subject of endless spoofs for over a decade and SMS jokes based on this, are doing the rounds even now. No one but Rajini could have pulled it off the way he did it in ‘Baasha’ and in fact, it would be right to say that the concept of punch dialogues for heroes started only after this gem of an evergreen dialogue!

2.‘Maapu, vechuttanya aappu!’ – ‘Neenga engiyo poittenga saar’ says an admiring ‘Yettu’ to his smirking boss Janagaraj in ‘Apoorva Sahodarargal’ and launched a thousand laughs across Tamil audiences across the world. But, the number two status has to go to Vadivelu who brought the theatre down with this antics with this one in Chandramukhi. And one never knew what happened to ‘Kovalu’ whose search he was on!

3.‘Mannippu, thamizhla enakku pidikkatha vaarthai!’ –Statistics and violence prone Professor Ramana takes up arms to protect the society against corrupt officials and with this classic quote, polishes off vermin, a la Eastwood style. The line has entered into every day language and has been parodied tirelessly, an indication of popularity of a dialogue. Some say that this was the movie that launched Vijayakanth, the politician. If Vijayakanth ever has a successful political career, this line then is likely to get an immortal status.

4. ‘Kadavulae, Kadavulae’- Rajini to Kushboo in Annamalai. Thanks to a comedy with a snake and this classic line.Also, this film incidentally was the first one that carried ‘Super Star’ Rajini in graphics in the opening credits.

5.‘Neenga nallavara kettavara?’ – The grand son of Varadaraja Naicker (Kamal Hassan) asks a seemingly innocent question in ‘Nayagan’, little knowing its deep philosophical implications. Naicker is stumped and says he does not know. Was the do-gooder criminal is a good guy or a bad one? Was this question was meant for the viewers?

6.‘Parattai, keduthuttiye parattai!’ – 16 Vayathinile is a watershed film in the Tamil film history for it irrevocably altered the course of movies made this side of Cooum. Bharathiraja came into his own, Ilayaraja the maestro gave the music lovers a taste of things to come and Rajini, Kamal and Sridevi showed they had arrived.
If Sappani ('Aathaa Aadu valathuchu...kozhi valathuchu...naay valakkala...') got the rave reviews and awards, it was Rajini (‘Idhu eppadi irukku’) who got the front benchers’ whistles. But, no one can forget this dialogue which continues to be in vogue and used in every day conversation even now. The Goundamani phenomenon was born with this movie and thanks to ‘Parattai’, he has gone on to give many kick-ass (?!) performances with the semi-trousered Senthil.

7. ‘Nee munthinda nokku, naan munthinda nekku’ – Prestige Padmanabhan Sivaji feels traumatized after his retirement from service and also by the neglect and indifference of his beloved children. He has only this one-liner to console his wife Padmini in ‘Vietnam Veedu’ and out comes the handkerchiefs to stifle the sobs and sniffs from the ladies section of the hall.

8. ‘Netrikann thirapinum kutram kutramae!’ – A P Nagarajan is not one to be outdone by an angry Shiva (Sivaji) who arrives at the durbar of the Pandian King to defend the ditty he ghostwrites for Dharumi and comes up with this classic one-liner in Thiruvilayadal. Has almost attained the status of a literary metaphor and probably has even inspired someone to start a magazine bearing that name.

9.‘Sabaash, sariyana potti!’ – P S Veerappa goes ballistic, watching the competition between the dancing sensations of those times, Padmini and Vyjayanti Mala, with this innocuous but popular line in ‘Vanchi Kottai Valiban’You hear this piece of dialogue even today whenever two beautiful females appear in public places and someone has said this dialogue is a “gentleman’s version of a wolf-whistle.”

10.‘Manandal Maha Devi. Illayael Marana Devi!’ – P S Veerappa, the evil scheming minister does not just stop with one of his trademark guffaws but also has the temerity to announce his liking for Savithri, the Princess Mahadevi and steals thunder from an upcoming handsome hero MGR with this punch line in Mahadevi.

Top Ten Election Moments:

1. Sarath Kumar’s Bouquet for Sonia Gandhi ending up in the Dustbin behind the airport.

2. JJ’s campaign in Kanyakumari ending with the line “Please give your golden vote to Udayasuryan” left people bewildered for sometime until they realized that the ADMK candidate for Kanyakumari was Mr.Udayasuryan.

3. Accusations on Central Minister for Sun TV Mr.Dayanidhi Maran for threatening Tata Group of Companies received “No Comments” from the Tatas.

4. Cabtain Vijayakanth criticizing the other two parties for changing their manifestos and free stuffs everyday, while his manifesto to give every Tamil citizen a free “Pasumadu” remained unchanged since he declared his manifesto in February.

5. Kalaignar’s response to ADMK leader JJ’s proclamation that there were no religious riots in her period, “ Of course there will be less riots in her period! Riots are instigated only by the opposition! The fact that there were no riots in her period shows our respect for law and order! The fact that there were more riots in our period indicates who instigated them!!!”

6. DMK leaders celebrating because 126 out of 250 election poll surveys conducted by various newspapers and magazines assured the victory of the DMK alliance.

7. Kalaignar’s Kanamma receiving VERY LATE and free publicity in Jaya TV is being talked about more now than when it was released.

8. Jaya TV’s decision to start Makkal Arangam at 11:00 am Sunday challenging Arattai Arangam.

9. DMK’s menifestos to provide free colour tv and gas stove received overwhelming response among poor people who are yet to decide how they’re going to pay for the Gas Cylinder and Cable TV.

10. Kalaignar’s response to Election Commission’s objection for Sonia Gandhi’s use of more than 200 cars for campaigning while the allowed no. was 20, “ Who said so! Those were the audience’s cars!! Not ours….the road was narrow….so they had to follow behind us.”

Is God Man or Woman:

Man: I feel God is definitely a woman. Cos’ only woman have the patience, skill and sensitivity, to create something so intricate and complex as nature….

Woman: You see that’s where you’re basically wrong…. If god were a woman, why would she have created man? Women don’t need men, it’s man who is in constant need of a woman….

Man: Oh yeah?? Then why does a woman need a father in childhood, a husband at adulthood and a son at old age, to constantly look after her? Don’t pretend women can live without men….

Woman: Ok, then if god were a woman, why would she be stupid enough to curse her own kind to suffer the labor pains…huh? Why couldn’t she have made men give birth to babies?

Man: The fact that women have the power to create a new life proves that god must be a woman! Hah!!

Woman: No way…. What about male chauvinism, female infanticide, women being kept prisoners inside the house, made to cook, wash clothes, clean vessels while you go out there and enjoy the world???

Man: Hey… we go out there, work, slog and sweat blood so that you can be happy inside the house without any kind of worldly worries, and we shelter you from the cruel and dangerous world out there and this is what we get??? Isn’t it a kind of silent but very cunning way of making us innocent men feel that we are actually keeping you prisoners while we enjoy life?? By constantly talking about male chauvinism, you are executing female chauvinism in this world… and you think we aren’t aware of that!!! God is definitely a wom….

Woman: That’s it!! I can’t stand talking to thickheaded creatures like you even for a minute…and you say god wanted you people to protect us for our lives! You know what…. If there were no men in this world there wouldn’t be anything else to protect us against…. And what about the fact that Adam was created before Eve, Huh?? If god were a woman as you say, why didn’t she create Eve first?

Man: Simple…because she wanted Adam to come here, clean the place and make preparations for you royal arrival!!! And we had to waste a rib for that…

Woman: And probably that’s when you guys lost your backbone…

Man: You know what?

Woman: What?
Man: You know what?

Woman: WHAT?

Man: I think I’ve had it… I accept… God is a MAN!!!!

Woman: Hah!! And what made you see that?

Man: Cos’ otherwise, it would have been GODDESS!!!