All eyes on
Ronaldo and Mesi
at Champions
League final

Era. Murukan from
Chennai and Sameep
Kulkarni from Pune
are two professionals
who seem to be
pursuing their passion
outside office with
reasonable success.
Ergo profiles the two IT
professionals who have
achieved success in the
fields of literature and
music respectively.

hile cyclone Aila pound- ed West Bengal and Oris- sa, many wondered how

Sachin Tendulkar came into the picture. In fact, Met offi- cials in Maldives, whose chances of being Tendulkar fans or know- ing his trademark phrase are re- mote, came up with the name. But then, Dhivehi, the common language in the island nation, has no such word. So we can never rule out the unlikely.

The naming convention for cy- clones in the northern Indian Ocean started in 2004 when the India Meteorological Depart- ment (IMD) released a list of names that would serve to identify cyclon- ic storms.

Eight members of ES- CAP (Economic and So- cial Commission for Asia and Pacific) – Ban- gladesh, India, Mal- dives,

Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Thai- land and Sri Lanka, with coasts along the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal — had sug- gested four names each at the start of the pro- gramme.

The names are picked in se- quence, one name after the other from each country in alphabet- ical order. The previous cyclone was named Bijli, which lasted from April 14 to 17 this year.

ea Cyclone Warning Centre, Chennai, says: “We had submit- ted the first set of names to WMO (World Meteorological Organisa- tion) in 2004. Aila was the 20th on the list and we have 12 left. The next one is going to be Phyan, coined by Myanmar. The next 32 have also been decided.”

Phyan is to be followed by Ward (Oman), Laila (Pakistan), Bandu (Sri Lanka) and Phet (Thailand). Even common people can suggest names of cyclones, says Dr. Ramanan.

They can send their suggesti- ons to the Director General of the Indian

The convention of naming cy- clones dates back to the early 20th century when an Australian forecaster named major storms after politicians he disliked. The US weather office too started naming cyclones in 1953.

“Naming cyclones is a good trend and it leaves a lasting im- pression on the public. People can recall and identify with its magnitude even years later, thus creating a general sense of aware- ness and preparedness,” Dr. Ra- manan says. “Like the US, we have also decided not to repeat names, particularly of cyclones which have caused maximum damage.”■

It was not Sachin
Tendulkar fans but
Met officials from
Maldives who
named the
cyclone ‘Aila’.

Even common
people can
suggest names
of cyclones,
says Dr.
Ramanan. They
can send their
suggestions to
the Director
General of the

Indian
Meteorological
Department.

Emirates Airline has announced its companion offer for all business class
passengers travelling from Chennai to any destination on the Emirates network.
Passengers booking on the Emirates business class return ticket get
50 per cent discount on the airfare in the same class for a companion of their
choice. The offer is valid till August 15.

The Hindu NXg and Konica Colour Lab and
Studio opened a five-day workshop titled
‘Shutterbugs’ on Tuesday. Thirty participants
were short-listed for the sessions, to be
delivered by well-known photographers.

hen Era. Murukan met Kamal Hassan at the condolence meet of his

mentor, writer Sujatha, little did he know that he will be summoned to write dialogues for Ulaganagayan’s film very soon. The principal consultant with HCL BPO says he never dreamt of entering tinsel town.

“I still remember the day I got myself introduced to Kamal Hassan. I was really surprised when the actor said he was planning to get in touch with me,” says Murukan, the dia- logue director for Kamal’s up- coming flick Unnai Pol Oruvan. The movie is inspired from Nee- raj Pandey’s A Wednesday, and has Kamal Hassan and Mohan- lal playing the roles of Nasee- ruddin Shah and Anupam Kher respectively.

Murukan Ramasami, better known as Era. Murukan in the literary world, is kicked about his new status. “After finishing my first draft, I met Kamal Has- san in the conference room of his Alwarpet office,” he ex- claims.

“Kamal went through the lines and started enacting. I was mesmerised by the way he emoted the scenes before me – the very moment. I was so ab- sorbed that I forgot to note down the corrections he made in the draft.”

Besides, authoring a number of short stories, novels and po- ems, Murukan has also written books on Information Technol- ogy in Tamil.

His novel Ghosts of Arasur was short-listed for the presti- gious Crossword Award. In fact,

Murukan was called to assist Kamal Hassan while he was writing the script forMarmayo-

and passion, Murukan says, “I did take a couple of days off from work to be at the shooting spot. When the shooting was on in Hyderabad, I dropped in on every weekend to assist the crew members. Now that the crew is in Chennai, I hope things will be easy for me.”

Working with Mohanlal? “He is a great actor and a very hum- ble person. Any doubts in dia- logues, he would clear it with me sincerely. It was an unfor- gettable experience to work with the two mega stars.”

mal is an ardent fan of writer Jayakanthan, whose movie of the same title won the Presi- dent’s award (third prize) in the Best Regional Film category. Since this film is about a com- monman, Kamal Hassan felt that Unnai Pol Oruvan would be more appropriate.”

in the script to suit the Tamil and Telugu audience,” says Murukan.

How important is the role of a dialogue-writer? “The person should be sensitive. He should know where to silence his pen. There will be scenes in a movie that can be more effective with- out dialogue.

This should be accepted by the writer,” says Murukan, who is now flooded with offers to write scripts.■

HCL employee Murukan Ramasami has
been roped in to write dialogues for
Unnai Pol Oruvan by Kamal Hassan

Kamal Hassan
and Mohanlal
at the launch
of the Tamil

movie
Unnaippol
Oruvan.

Courtyard by Marriott will play host to the launch of ‘Kartick and Gotham’ – a contemporary electronic music collection on May 29 at 7.30 p.m. The duo will perform a live show fusing world music and electronica.