Blurb

For a change, something worth reading-1

2011-01-14T21:14:00.002+05:30

What is it about children that makes them endearing? An innocence that is lost once they grow up? Or just the very fascination of watching small sized versions of ourselves? Or could it perhaps be the underlying awareness that eventually they will rule the world?

Whatever the reasons, there is nothing quite as beautiful as childhood. However, there are children who are deprived of a lot of things that made childhood enjoyable for us. First of all, parents an as a consequence, unconditional parental love. Either deserted or orphaned at an early age, these children live a childhood filled with misery, being left to die or worse, forced into begging, labour, prostitution etc.

It is our responsibility to ensure that the future of this world lies in able hands. My small step towards this was joining Nirantara almost three years ago at the suggestion of my class mate and now colleague, Sreekanth and it’s been a wonderful journey ever since! Nirantara started with 13 people and is now more than 250 members strong. So what does Nirantara do?

From sponsoring education for the needy children, to conducting activities for orphans and destitute children, to visiting orphanages on a regular basis and providing them support in the form of monthly groceries, stationery etc, they undertake and encourage any and every act of kindness that can be shown towards the underprivileged. Their main focus is uplifting the poor and needy children, because they believe it is their duty to ensure that these victims of circumstantial adversity get an equal shot at taking on the future as do privileged children. For more information do visit www.trustnirantara.org

Having personally been to some of the orphanage visits, the one thing that struck me was the way these kids’ faces light up when you visit them and greet you with a priceless smile, despite being complete strangers to you! Something we adults could learn. It’s not your money these kids want. They just want someone to play with, someone to talk about their favourite hero, someone to listen to their songs or sing for them. They need friends. They need love. They need our time. They need your time.

This month, Nirantara is completing 3 years of wonderful service, and we were in a discussion as to how best to celebrate this. It was decided that there would be a function held on the 30th and kids from the orphanages they support be called and activities conducted for them. This meeting was held at one of our visits to Shelter Home (a home for HIV affected kids that we have been supporting for about 2 years) and it was then that I realized here was a grass root level organization doing a great job with more than 250 members and 100 permanent donors, yet only around 15 people had actually turned up for the visit and to involve themselves in the activities. I felt that the best way to call people’s attention towards this and ask for their time would be to speak to them in a language best understood by them. And a language that’s been my love all my life. Music.

(to be continued)

VJam- My gig at the Russian Cultural Center

2010-12-22T10:15:00.003+05:30

Folks I’m performing with my band at the Russian Cultural Center on Thursday December 23rd at 7.30 PM. So please be there for

VJam- Vijaynarain Live

We’ll be doing everything from popular film songs and western numbers adapted to funk and rock grooves to random jamming and letting loose on stage. Maybe even an own composition or two. So be there and kickstart your Christmas weekend by screaming your lungs out!

The Lineup:

Vocals: R Vijaynarain, Harini S

Keys: Prashanth Techno

Bass: John Praveen

Drums: Ved Shankar

Reasons why coming to my gig is better than doing anything else that day:

It’s after office hours

Anything else isn’t as important as supporting this poor blogger by cheering for him

You will be given special treatment if you’re a hot chick or bring a few to the gig

Least important of all these reasons : ENTRY IS FREE. ABSOLUTELY. YEAH YOU READ IT RIGHT! See you there !!

If you don't find this post awesome...

2010-11-17T21:31:00.001+05:30

I am suffering from a writer's block. Hence I haven't really been able to come up with any of my awesomatic self praising attention whoring posts of late. The very fact that I've realized this and set out

to write THIS post should give you an idea of how awesome I am. Heck, robots go crazy after me and call their creator "Yeah You-suck Asimov".

The trouble with being a writer is that there is always an itch to write, no matter how much or how less you have written. The trouble is not the itch itself, because itches are never really trouble if you've noticed. I mean compare an itch with a headache or a running nose, or if you're female, with a bad hair day, and you'll know what I mean. All you need to do about an itch is scratch. Like the adage (add age to any piece of crap someone said and it becomes an adage) goes, Scratch the itch, screw the .

Coming right back to where I left (you'll notice I'm really good at directions, so add that to your list of "Reasons why Vijay is awesomatic, hereafter referred to as Awesometer"), the trouble is not the itch itself, but the fact that this particular writing itch is hard to scratch. Remember the first time you learnt to write A,B,C,D on a slate in kindergarden? All you did was scratch the "balpam" on the slate and you got whacked by the teacher because your A wasn't straight. If she'd taught you G and Y too, she would've realized not everything is straight and maybe spared you the cane and "A"ble

(A+syllabyle= "A"ble, invented here for the sole purpose of showing the world I know about the Jeffery Archer novel though I have't read it. Awesometer++). I bet DJ's had it much easier in school than we IT blokes did. All they needed to do was learn CD and they could scratch all they want!

So, in my case, the only way to scratch my itch to write, is by actually writing. I'm sure YOU, reading this post right now think it sucks (though you might not want to tell me because you think, rather, KNOW I'm awesome). I'll save you the trouble. Of course this post sucks! It sucks the readers' attention completely and stirs in them a deep sense of introspection, encouraging them to question the very tenets of the whatever-isms they grew up believing in and tempts them to break free from the shackles of mundane existence. If this post hasn't done that to you yet, go to the post office and try your luck there. If however, you do not have time to go to the post office, let me let you in on a dark secret. It is very important to know the value of time. After sunset, the value of time is exactly 18 (hence the DARKkness of the secret I just revealed). This was computed by the same machine that came up with 42. I'm sure if I don't mention it right now, there'll be some smartass asking a "bright" question on the lines of "What is the value of time after sunrise?" Go figure it out yourself! I only promised to let you in on a dark secret, not a bright one!

Ok so this post is long enough to publish, and the awesometer arrow just broke out of it and shot into the sky. Google tells me it's orbiting the earth just behind the hubble space telescope. As much as you want me to continue, I am going to have to conclude this post. So let me conclude by actually completing the title, which if you've noticed is incomplete. If you don't find this post awesome, don't read it.

Love- Make that change

2010-11-01T22:37:00.000+05:30

They should know that actions speak

Much louder than words

And learn a thing or two

From the bees and the birds

So stop the cussing and the fussing

It ain't each other's lives you're messing

If it's a mess that you want

Do what you say, it's not like you can't

A little love and a little hope

And you will with each other cope

Agreed the grass appears better there

But whatever the pitch, perfect your stroke

A life of happiness and peace you'll lead

Brothers and sisters you'll live to feed

And breed, goodwill, freedom and joy

So set your sails! Love ahoy!

Jhoota Hi Sahi- First thoughts (Quite literally)

2010-09-18T22:53:00.000+05:30

I am writing this as I'm listening to JHS for the first time. These opinions might not exactly be the same in a week or so :)

Hello Hello

Love the bassline and the filtered strings. Lazy feel, instant appeal. Majorish transition though kind of expected still works! Nice singing by Karthik.

Verdict: Like this song at first listen. I think will go on to love it

Do Nishaniyan

Starts off almost exactly like the Oru Naal Unnai Naan phrase in mannippaya. Why do I feel there isn't clarity of vocals?? Is that second bgm a continuum?? String runs, swells, crescendos... Song seems to have all ARR elements intact.

Verdict: This song will take time to grow I guess. Sounds good at first listen.

Pam Para

Shreya :D Like the way the song starts. Sounds like vintage Rahman. Wait I'm just 40 seconds into the song. What's with Shreya sounding all college girlish! Ok I am NOT biased towards this song because there's Shreya in it. As it progresses, it does seem to get a little monotonous. I'll give it some time.

Verdict: This might go on to be a big hit. Commercial stuff.

I'll Be Waiting

Oh man Jazz!! This one's gonna be a hot favourite of mine! Vijay Yesudas singing in English??!! Very very good! Man this song's killer! The Tu Bole of JHS. Another ode to good ol' Louis Armstrong? Expected a sax bgm, got one. The strings backing is super brilliant. I am not even paying attention to the tune because I know it'll be fabulous and will grow on me the more I listen to it. The overall feel of it is AMAZING.

Verdict: To borrow from Woody Allen, I luurrrve it!

Do Nishaniyaan (Heartbreak Reprise)

The first one sounded like heartbreak too. Can't seem to find much difference in the feel in both versions. Like the flute bgm. Why so much autotune in the aalap :(

Verdict: Same as the first version

Call me Dil

Saw Rahman sir performing this at Saregamapa and was blown away. Why didn't he sing the final version?? The "Call me Dil" chorus is awesome. Song has a very positive vibe to it and I'm loving it.

Verdict: This will be on my playlist for a while. Would've loved an unplugged version

Mayya Yashoda (Both versions)

Ok I'm used to this and Cry Cry as I've heard it multiple times already. Love the singing and flute. Vintage ARR sitar bgm backed by lovely strings. And just noticed, the synth bass line is sexy. Tempo changes work fabulously in creating a very upbeat mood. Respect to Javed's last sangathi! Thames mix is groovy. More or less the same stuff with an extra thump and groovy programming. The flute fits seamlessly into this remix ;) Love the ending

Verdict: Like the original version better than the remix, but then again, the original's so good, even the remix is a notch above a lot of other original compositions I've been hearing of late ;)

Cry Cry

Not yet saturated with this song, having heard it atleast forty times till now. Love the arrangements. Bass slides every now and then, the EP grooves, some awesome chord work when Shreya sings. And that last harmony in Cry Cry! Song's a hit already. This is probably my second favourite song in the album from what I've heard so far.

Verdict: Works big time!

Overall

Firstly, all those who dissed the CWG theme, well STFU. JHS is here and here to stay!

Love this album, although I might not have been able to get the hang of most of the songs at one go. I have a feeling it'll be a sure shot hit, and heck even if it's not, it's got some really really good music and that's all that matters. I have been looking forward to this one, and I am certainly not disappointed. Another week and the songs will sink into my system in all their glory. I'll write again then. Perhaps not, I'll just enjoy the music. You do too! And please. Buy the CD!

The CWG Theme... My Take on all the BS

2010-09-03T10:59:00.000+05:30

The commonwealth games theme song is out. With all the controversy shrouding the games, it is but natural that Mr.A.R.Rahman would not be spared either. Hasn't it always been characteristic of our sensationalist media to pull attention to shy, non controversial, rather subdued yet iconic people like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahman into controversy given the slightest opportunity? And that despite being world beaters at their respective professions, they have time and again managed to come out unscathed, only to silence critics to kingdom come!

What seems to irk people is the price quoted for the song. While the veracity of this amount still remains to be established, I personally feel there is nothing wrong if the song indeed came at such a price. After all you are hosting an international event, and more importantly you are signing up an international music icon to represent your country. You are signing up the brand that is A.R.Rahman. And brands come at a price. Any Tom Dick and Harrish could have been roped in to compose the theme song. The song would've still worked. But when you're hosting an international event in your country, it becomes imperative to show up in your best dress. With everything else about the cwg going haywire and corruption rearing its now familiar head with an extra smirk on its face, A.R.Rahman is the only positive buzzword. But no, we don't want to let him be either!

Coming to the song itself, I personally like it. Yes there are songs by the maestro in recent times that I have liked better, but this song is still very good. For a sports theme, I think this is more than sufficient. If at all I would pick out one sore aspect, it would be the lyrics. But what exactly were the critics expecting? Another Vande Mataram? Had that happened they would've said the song sounds repetitive. If ARR had done this song free of cost I'm sure the same people bickering now would've had different opinions. Maybe they would've even liked the song!

Success makes people jealous. Other people's success I mean. I read a rather surprising article in a newspaper asking people about the song. The "people" being questioned were supposedly singers and composers no one had heard of (and hopefully wouldn't want to hear or hear of), and everything from the tone of the article to the opinions expressed was utterly negative. Almost as if someone at the newspaper decided to launch a personal tirade against the composer.

To these people and others who think Rahman didn't deserve what he got for this song, I have some questions. Would you rather have composed this theme? Who are you? Did you slog your butt off and win the country two Oscars, Grammys and some hundred other awards and still remain composed and firmly grounded? Having said that, I'm sure A.R.Rahman's goals weren't winning awards. They came to him, and not the other way round. When the Oscars came there were people who said he didn't deserve them. Funny it wasn't them that were part of the jury but much more qualified musicians instead.

I am not saying you shouldn't dislike the song. Everyone has a right to like or dislike the song and express it. But dislike it because it doesn't appeal to you musically, not because your mind is conditioned to dislike everything about the Commonwealth, thanks to corruption and media hype, or because Rahman allegedly got paid an amount you wouldn't be able to charge in your profession because you aren’t half as good in what you do as he is in music.

For those who like it, enjoy the music. My sincere appeal to true fans of the legend to not feed this controversy with angry retorts and to avoid arguments that you know you can't win with logic. Because our icon is not someone whose reputation we should be damaging by cheap fanboy-ism. Nothing irks bad mouthers like silence and patience. I have seen genius at work, and trust me, his genius combined with inhuman mental equilibrium is something we can only dream of achieving! A.R.Rahman is beyond all this, and he will be back with some great music. And that is all we should be looking forward to!

Ever a true Rahman fan.

[Serial] Will Chandru Kalakkify? (aka Amu-kky Vaasippala?)- Part 2

2010-07-29T00:11:00.003+05:30

Roughed by the days’ happenings, with a grimace, Chandru got down to work. He was drained completely yet he had to do what his boss had asked him to do. His mind was like that of a zombie waiting to ghoul on his boss. He opened his communicator and searched for the associate’s name whom he was supposed to approach regarding the networking problem.

Amuthavalli? How on earth can peoples have this name and all ? Our peoples have a very decent and modern tradition of having names like ‘Sreesanth’ , ‘Bindhu’, ‘Kichu’, ‘Reshma’ . Wish I got a chance to talk to someone whose name was a sweet poetry like the Chakkapazham Halwa J’

By now you must have guessed what had happened? Yes, Chandru pinged Amy thinking he had pinged Amuthavalli. Realising the mistake shortly, he was in a sticky situation whether to continue the conversation with Amy or to apologize and ping the right person thereby doing his work. After a moment of deliberation, he decided to flirt with Amy for after all if she were hot (of course there’s no way he’d find out right now), she would be his ‘Chanda’ and if not he had nothing to lose in his world of daydreaming. There with all his might, and a silent prayer to Guruvayoorappan, he pinged… THUD !

***

Humans have this uncanny ability to express their thoughts in words. What humans lack sometimes is the ability to think. This often results in a lot of words being exchanged, especially when there are many people in conversation, and little actually being said. Which was precisely what was happening in the conference call Amy was in… Of course, she had company in Alex, at the other end of the line. About the only redeeming aspect of these calls was the hilarity that used to ensue when Alex, with his American accent spoke and everyone derived new meaning from his words, ultimately resulting in Alex sending out a mail to the team after the call, detailing everything that he said and hence defeating the purpose of the call itself.

There wasn’t much work today and as she got back to her seat, Amy chose to ignore Umesh’s chat window. Marriage… Something that would change her life forever… Curtail her freedom; if that’s what she could call her current state…Maybe even make her quit her job. She didn’t want to get hitched this soon. She wanted to enjoy life, though she didn’t exactly know its exact definition. She wanted to have some fun.

Fun came in the form of popup chat window. The name read Naryanan, Chandramouleeswaran. He had asked about some network issue she had no clue of and then realized he was looking for Amuthavalli and not Amruthavalli. However, the conversation didn’t end there…

***

The chat:

Amy (A):

I think you're mistaken. I'm not amuthavalli. I'm amRuthavalli

Chandru (C):

Hey am sorry da. I did that by mistake without knowledge

Amy’s Mind Voice: ”Da” it seems. Talk of making mistakes with knowledge!

No issues

Chandru’s Mind Voice: What to start with now?

Hey what kind of work you do?

A: I pluck lice out of hairy males in office. What's his problem?

I write code. I guess we all do, don't we?

lolzzz ya but my work is so boring ya.. i listened to music and read e books in the meantime

A: Oh my IQ just shot up triple digits knowing that. Is today "world talks to Amy in bad english" day or

what!! Ok so Mowglee wants to have fun! Time to give back. Localese ahoy!

Ya ma. Wat to do. I also listen all kinds of musics da.

C: Pat on my back. Its working successfully more than my code !

What kind of music you listen ? I love A R Rahman , Shakira and most of all my favvourite is BSB.. they are just awesome and they rock the world . I can also sing their songs fully

A:I bet you have a secret fetish for Nick Carter!

Oh even I listened ya, but now and all only Tamil fast musics. I like that Bailamo Simaro Lano song very much

C: Huh ?? What song is this ? May be she is telling some other English song . Lets pretend to know it

somehow and manage it by talking about books.

I also like that song so much. Anyways do you read books da?

Yes I do. You too a?

Hey books are my favourite pastimes da. I read Chetan bhagat' 'two states' 15 times you know ? I loved that book so much da. It just talks about love and lovers nicely

A: I bet your first book was five point someone!

Oh I haven't read that

C: Wow ! Success ! I can talk about the book and show how good am I in literature !

The book tells properly about the state of lovers in our country da. You know all the problems lovers face in our country na ? Thats so nicely written in that book anyways you also read the book and tell ur experience to me da

What are the other books you read ?

A: Ayn Rand, Amitav Ghosh, Wodehouse

I read Harry Potter. I will read two states ya. It seems very interesting da

Hey I call you Mowgli means ok va?

I like that name da

Hey thanks so much da. I like the name so much how do you think of that name ?

Oh simply. I like that jungle book on tv ma. You want keep me name?

Hey of course da Wait thinking of a name.. But your name is very old ma. You not feeling sad about that?

A:The guts you son of a… !

No I dont. I am happy with my name yaaar. You dont want means dont keep name. Bye

Hey no no da. Dont get angry like this. I'll definitely keep you one name. Is JLo ok ?

Cozz i like her voice so much ma. My room full of her posters onyl

A:Does JLo know this!

Call me Amy da. Better. No, not angry

My turn bimbo!

So mowgli, what other stuffs do you like?

C: She don’t even know Backstreet boys but wants western name ha ha

Amy eh ? It sounds very cool ma I like the name so much. Its as sweet like you

How do you know I am sweet da? You are clairvoyant?

Oops he doesnt know what it means

I mean are you future teller by reading mind?

C: Cha i missed a chance to impress her! Thought of googling the meaning of the word ! lets manage it

Hey i know that word da. Anyways i love freaking out with friends and then partying , dancing and all

A: Agree with the “freaking people out” part! Where do you party? Ahobila Mutt?

Oh hey me too ya. You know we very similar I think.

Hey Mr.Desperate, catch this!

So you have a girlfriend a? Party with girlfriend a ;-)

C: Wow she asking because she’s interested maybe! I don want to give her wrong message!

JLo you sound very comfortable da. I like talking to you . I dont have girlfriend ma. I dont have enough money with me da so they dont come to me at all .. lolzzzzzz

A: I am SO impressed and just waiting to go out on a date with you mister. Here doggy, go fetch!

Ha ha but not all girls like money minded ya. You know, I should tell you something.

But its ok

Leave it

Hey please dont put suspense da. Tell me please ma

A: Bait taken and swallowed whole!

no no its ok

nothing

you may get angry by it

C: Wow what is she gonna say? So exciting!

please da. dont put puzzles and go away. My mind will be spining later

you tell da

A: Didn’t you know Shakuntala Devi’s my aunt?

I don know you that much so difficult to say it da

please

A: Only if you roll over and play dead

don force !

okay da. its upto you da

A: Giving up so soon??

don mistake me da

but i already feel very close to you da. if u dont tell me ,its ok da

but remember i'll be always there for you nu

A: Yeah Chandler Bing I know you will!

I think of telling but hesitate because only today I know u.

thanks dear

you have to tell everything to your dear ones only then you'll feel light ma

please tell me na

A: Actually what I want to say is…

(To be continued)

Will Chandru Kalakkify? (aka Amu-kky Vaasippala?) - 1

2010-07-26T11:07:00.001+05:30

Ok so here I go again, attempting a serialized story. Only this time, I have a partner in crime, Deepika Padmanabhan, who will hopefully make sure the story actually reaches a conclusion. And for a change we’re developing opposite characters, so while I write about the female protagonist, Deepika takes up the hero’s character, just for added insanity.

Prologue: I know this is like the part most people hate because no one ever gets to the point, so we’ll cut to the chase. The prologue ends here.

1

Plastic flowers decorated the office entrance, as did plastic smiles on the faces that looked at her as she entered her cubicle. She smiled back not at anyone in particular, but not missing the look on Umesh’s face. Umesh had been hitting on her the past few days. She didn’t have a problem with that, for Amruthavalli Thathachari had been hit on by quite a few guys. What she did have a problem with was when the moment she unlocked her system, Umesh pinged her on the office communicator.

“Hey Ammu what da why late today”

She wasn’t proud of her name, but wasn’t ashamed of it either. But she couldn’t stand people calling her Ammu or Valli. Alex, her client, called her Amy and she loved it and wished others called her that too. Now, Amy as we will call her going forward (failing which this story wouldn’t see the light of the day or the darkness of the night, she threatens), wasn’t your typical “wear tee shirt on Friday because she has to” female. She was hep, preferred Stanley Kubrick and Mahendran to Steven Spielberg and Gautam Menon, a voracious reader and beautiful. A little headstrong maybe in the opinion of Iyengar aunties she met at weddings she had no reason to attend but was forced to, but she couldn’t care less about what they thought.

She had no time to give an imaginative reply to Umesh, for she was already late for the call and after quickly checking mail, was off to the conference room. Amy knew she would hardly be able to concentrate on what they were going to discuss, for her mind was preoccupied with something else. Her parents had opened the topic of her marriage this morning. Ammukutty was 23 and it was time they started sharing her “jathagam” and find a suitable “boy” in a well to do family, working in a company, in “foreign” and so on. She wasn’t in love with anybody, not yet, but she wasn’t prepared for marriage. Definitely not to some jerk who did “Sandhyavandhanam” in the US twice a day with wash basin water, went to office with “srichuranam” on his forehead and yelled at his offshore team in bad English over phone.

Meanwhile the onsite call had started.

“Hi Team, can you able to hear me a?”

* * *

The hero of the story is our very own Chandru whose official name is Pallakad Chandramouleeswaran Narayanan. He did not want to be stereotyped as the “tybical palakkad iyer” and hence wanted to do something absolutely zany just to prove a point to the world and to himself. He woke up from a dream of taking marijuana at Columbia and being frisked by the police when his mom yelled at him saying ‘Chandruu nee panradhu seri illa akum… “

For a semiconscious second he actually thought his mom had found out that he’d fagged but it dawned on him that she was yelling at him because she had found out posters of Penelope Cruz and Angelina Jolie in bikinis in his room. He was bewildered to find out that his mom had kept bindhi on their foreheads and turned them into proper Desi girls . Frustrated at this, and the fact that he kept bumping only into girls wearing a ‘colourful white saree’ with hair drenched in oil more than the oil wells in Iraq, he was finding himself in a no-man’s land.

What frustrated him even more was missing his office bus and having to take the local transport. In some time he was reduced to a small lump in the middle of an ocean of his sweat. His polite request to push the window back gave him about 10% of ventilation. He decided to get off the bus. There was no point in doing this for another 2 hours. And then just when he was about to do the “you-open-the-window-or-I-puke-in-your-face routine”, it happened. He got a seat near the window thankfully and managed to reach office before his manager did so that he would have his privacy to check all the hot updates on MSN.

“Chandru could you please ping Amuthavalli T and find out what the ticket status is? She’s from the networks team”

And thus came the opportunity, disguised as a typographical error on Chandru’s part. An error that would forever change his life!

(to be continued…)

Raavan-My take (Not that it matters or I care that it doesn't)

2010-06-30T10:14:00.002+05:30

I hated 7 G for a lot of reasons including the movie being perverted, depressing and carrying the wrong message. Of course there’s no comparison between Raavan and that piece of crap. Why I mentioned it here is because Raavan seems to carry across a wrong message, in that despite his vices, Raavan wins the girl’s heart, just because he had a vengeance story to tell and he didn’t violate her. You don’t want to see that happening much in real life, say your girlfriend/wife getting herself abducted by a crook and standing up for him

The premise had plenty of scope to weave a super story of good turning bad and vice versa. However I felt the movie fails because it’s characters aren’t convincingly developed. Vikram need not have dubbed for himself. Sounds very South Indian. Overall didn’t like the dialogues. Some of the references to Ramayana were corny. Especially Govinda attempting a chow yun fat in Crouching Tiger just to establish he’s Hanuman.

Great visuals, good music. That last song is kickass and the five of us were the only ones left in the theatre waiting for it to end, while wishing it wouldn’t. The Yudh theme came, and that too twice yaaay!!!

Now those who loved/liked it, don’t stand up in arms against me. While I agree there’s a lot of time and effort that went into the movie, a lot of time and effort goes into every movie that’s made, even the ultra pathetic ones. It’s the viewers right to like or not like a movie and express his opinion about it.

So did I like the movie? I don’t really think so. But I was able to sit through it without much discomfort. At times it did feel like an RGV flick though

[55-Fiction]- For a few words more

2010-06-10T23:11:00.002+05:30

55-Fiction is basically where you write a story in under 55 words. It's a rage in my office blogspace. Decided to give it a shot.

The ideas are hard to come by but the challenge seems interesting. So here are a few I wrote:

Karma

Slab: Twelve and hundred years of woe, to cursed land, sea shall go

*

“It’s over”, she welled up. “Mother consulted the astrologer. Our stars don’t match”

*

News: Asteroid threat exaggerated to create panic- President

*

Galaxypedia: Despite their “endangered” status, humans fall under Category-W, owing to their largely insignificant contribution even during their life on earth.

***

Impulse

His hand fiddled around in his pocket, while his eyes refused to look anywhere else but at the candy stick in the jar. But what about the eraser then? What would he tell mummy?
He took out the sole one rupee coin.

.

.

.

.

.

.
“Tails!”

***

Chance

“Goddamn car!”, Alex kicked the door. He couldn’t afford to go late the second day of his new assignment.

*

“Not here, let’s go elsewhere. She might have friends here!”

*

“No, I cancelled my flight. And everything else! Guess who’s studio I got a call from?”

*

9.02 AM- “Inshallah! Here comes my salvation”, cried the jihadi

******

Of shades and facades

2010-06-07T12:32:00.001+05:30

The wise or so they thought said "Forgive and forget". The smarter ones said "Forgive but don't forget". Fact is, it is very difficult to forgive or forget. Because you don't want to end up making the same mistake twice and look like a fool. Above all, the one person you don't want to look like a fool to, at the end of the day, is the most important person in your life: you! It can really wreck your morale.

So here I am, finding myself slowly turning misanthrope. It scares me. I mean, there's no point hating anyone. But what scares me more is the disappointment and depression attachment brings. The better you know somebody, greater the chance you give them to know you. And hence take advantage. It doesn't end there. You start taking things for granted, make assumptions because you think you know them well enough, and when suddenly your assumptions go wrong, you are left in doubt. By this time you are so accustomed to expecting the expected that it hits you like a bolt from the blue.

What's the solution? Maintaining a safe distance from everyone? Being friendly without being too friendly? Perhaps. But wouldn't that amount to faking? Having just finished The Catcher in the Rye, I can't help but identify with Holden Caulfield, the story's protagonist. Why is it that most of the time, we pretend to be people we are not? We pretend to be nice without wanting to, we pretend to care and even go ahead and offer help, while internally feeling obliged to, ultimately putting up facade of gentleness and normalcy for social acceptance's sake?

Are we being unconsciously conscious about our behaviour and hence constantly wearing different faces? Just to be included ? Or is it human nature that we turn different shades in different situations, allowing our true selves to manifest only every now and then under adversity? What would be the consequences if we told people what we actually thought all the time? Imagine the controversy it might stir up, the hearts it might break, the turmoil(and maybe even happiness) it might cause! One's dignity and respect seems to rest on how nice or how politically correct they seem to be, and not on how nice they actually want to be. I'm reaching a point where I am not able to discern genuine emotions from fake ones.
So, what do YOU want to do? Pretend to be someone else? Or pretend to be yourself?

MSN- Mostly Stupid News

2010-06-02T14:05:00.002+05:30

MSN is one of those websites you don't want to start your workday browsing through. I mean there's no way you can miss noticing the fact that the most important news that catches your attention on their website, especially the Indian version of it, is as important as the colour of the White House's toilet seat to you, yes you reading this very article.

Now note my point here. I said "catches your eye". I didn't say the headline that's at the top. So what caught my eye this morning?

First this ad:
*Shows you a pair of well waxed and whatever'd female legs, and zooms out gradually, revealing in full splendour(especially the legs, sans fabric) a woman reclining on a couch, which you later learn is a car seat, reading a book*
The ad reads:
"The Mahindra Xylo. Keeps even the longest legs happy. " :-O
And right next to it a button reads "Click to expand"Talk about suggestive ads! And new car features!

The next thing that grabs my attention? The crime section. Invariably there's something utterly gruesome that's happened in Delhi (most of the times, it's always Delhi). Highlighted in bold and almost like an invitation to the reader to dive deep into it and revel in the glory of how demented the human mind can get.No I don't click it.
Because something else has caught my eye :

"Celina Jaitley - I am a virgin"Filed under the "videos" section. Now this has been there on the page for the past three days. And since videos don't open in office I haven't seen it yet. But what exactly was the intention? Is this a public service announcement? If yes, I think I'll save my coins. I have better causes to help.

Next:"Healthy food may not be good for everyone's health"Filed under "Lifestyle"What was the writer thinking when he wrote this? I'm taking a guess the article goes on to state that what's healthy for one person might not be so for another, depending on each individual's body mechanism. That's some news I certainly didn't know and now that I do, my IQ's up forty points! Like it went up when Saba Karim, during one of his commentaries observed rather insightfully
"If the batsmen can hit the ball hard enough into the gaps, they can get the boundaries".

Speaking of other things, Headlines today has been screaming "Towers of death" the past few days. Something about Cell Phone network towers radiating harmful waves and posing instant doomsday to all major cities. No other channel seems to be bothered. My doubt is, is the intention behind this news report to really cause some awareness? Looks more like a publicity gimmick to gain trp. I'm not saying there might not be a real threat, but come on, give us facts to back your claim! And if it were indeed a major threat, is it not your responsibility to make sure every other media knows about it and spreads awareness?

I don't intend to sound like one of those cynical "when I was in the US" forty somethings that goes about dissing every possible aspect of life. But let's face it. 90 percent of what the media's dishing out is horse manure. All I'm saying is, feed it to the plants!

PS: I'm sure by now you've opened MSN and seen those legs you voyeur! Admit it. I saw them too, which is why this post! :PPPS: I'm back to PSes and PPses ;)PPPS: I know noone uses it, but I just realized their mail's called "Hot"mail too ;)PPPPS: OK way too many post scripts I agree, but just to clarify, MSN.co.in is the default homepage on IE at office, and basically I have better things to do that change my homepage in case you're wondering.

Feature in the Semmozhi Maanadu song by A.R.Rahman!!!

2010-05-29T22:39:00.003+05:30

Feels great to be part of the Semmozhi Maanadu song by A.R.Rahman sir. This is a dream come true for me. I've sung chorus in this song, and also feature in the video (Watch at 5.16)

Had super fun shooting for this song at the beach :) My favourite musician and your favourite director!

I am also kicked about the fact that my name's made it to the credits list for this song in Rahman sir's website. Here's the link to that :)
http://www.arrahman.com/v2/discography/singles-semmozhi.html

Music- A.R.Rahman
Direction: Gautam Menon

Sleepers Creepers!

2010-05-26T12:13:00.002+05:30

I am in this state of semi consciousness, and it's not due to alcohol or a bump in the head. Ub fact In fact aI'm actually typing with my eyes closed. Just that previous line and this one, dont wanna get caught sleeping in office. Ok now I'm wide half awake. Coming to the point, haven't had enough sleep.

Work catalyzes sleep, hence this post. But as usual absolutely no trigger to write. Speaking of triggers, triggers are found on guns. Guns kill people. War kills people. War is bad. All is fair in love and war someone said. So if all is fair, what about the guy who got his face burnt trying to pull the pin off the grenade and the grenade burst on his face because it was a cheap quality China make? How the hell can he be fair? And if all is fair in war and war kills people, fair things kill people? Perhaps! Mankind has in the past killed for the fairer gender. Remember Helen of Troy? Yeah really? Do you? Good for you because I don't, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't remember me either, so that makes us even 8!*#$ !

Paragraph three starts with the word paragraph. Graphs are fun. Those graph sheets they used to give us in our exams! Exams! What fun when they got over! Not the graphs, the exams. The last exam was always the one we prepared least for, out of sheer excitement at what followed. Sleep is creeping in like a creep creeping in on whatever he creeps in on. I have to stay awake. This post couldn't get more boring could it? Yeah it could. I could copy paste paragraphs from Ullyses and The Namesake (the latter I have read, the former, I shall use as a weapon of mass destruction if someone messes with my blog). Ok folks, I've suddenly lost interest to continue this post any further. Goodnight. Or in the words of my tweetheart :D:DD:D shippa shuppi time ;)

And so here goes...My solo song :)

2010-05-15T12:20:00.002+05:30

Folks, posting after quite some time. Been a hectic last two weeks. Few good things happening :)

I've sung a solo in the movie Patta Patti 50 50. The music is by Mr.ArulDev. He was Vidyasagar's keyboardist and programmer and now he's done his first movie.

Now I don't want to sound like one of those big shot folks who have templatized answers for interview questions, considering this isn't even an interview, but working with Mr.Arul was a great experience. I had a lot of freedom to improvise and stuff, and the song was good fun to sing.

It's a fully english song called Never Gonna Change, and you don't see many of them in our Tamil movies! Heck if I remember right the last time I heard one was Sooooiiiinnngg in the raaaaiiinnn ;-)
Ok without further ado, here's the song:

05 Track 5.wma

or here

http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/album/T0002467.html

The initial response among friends has been pretty good, and it's heartening to see people actually listening to it. Do let me know what you think of the song :) And do spread the word around if you like it.

At the cost of sounding like a politician, without the phoneyness, heartfelt thanks to Arul sir for this song, and to all you folks for all the comments (that've come so far and hopefully will come hereafter) and encouragement and criticism and for being on various social networking sites and so on and so forth!

More interesting updates to follow.

The Face with no Value (because she hadn't uploaded her dp yet) and the Book with no Pages (coz the internet connection was down)

2010-04-22T11:04:00.000+05:30

These days Facebook is abuzz with activity. Everyone, including yours truly wants to go one up on the other with their wacky, humorous, attention grabbing status updates. Of great importance in this virtual diss-pit is the flunkey brigade that goes about "like"ing every celebrity status update and "yes of course"ing and "Totally agree"ing with every celeb, pseudo celeb, socialite, anti-socialite, that-chick-with-the-hot-profile-pic (which turns out to be that of some less known bollywood bimbette like Anjana Suck-on-ye or Geeta Basra) or just about anyone who seems to grab enough attention.
Facebook is a nice way of saying "hello" to a celebrity you've always been a fan of and wished could tell how much you admire them. It's also a nice way of catching up with that friend you never spoke to in school but whose profile you came across through a mutual friend and eight years seem to have done to her dp what those Fair n Lovely ads claim their product can do in 20 days. Of course minus the girl's dumbass father in those ads, who weeps at the beauty pageant awards, unable to express his joy at his girl's ascension to bimbo-hood.
And above all, Facebook's a nice way of making the world notice you're there! An attention whore's paradise!
Status updates are cool. I mean, imagine how cool it is to be telling the world you finally went to the loo after six days of constipation! And when you know the flunkey brigade's on the prowl, you can always use one of the following template and assure yourself of at least ten "like"s and five comments!
Listening to . What a !! to the . {Choose either or all of the following comma separated emoticons: :))), :((, :D, :*( } !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you aren't really the kind that appreciates music (screw you btw), then you could use this template
Just by . it!
If you aren't into books and movies either (read kill yourself with a toothpick), and want to but don't know what to update your status with, there's always "Facebook chat sucks!"
You don't realize it sucks because there's no one online to chat with you, do you??
And then there's the constant whiner who always has a problem with the world. The kind of smartass who doesn't wear a helmet because he has a dandruff problem but knows exactly what the prime minister should be doing instead of what he's doing right now, how Kamal Hassan should've acted in Anbe Sivam, how females should dress to "uphold" our tradition and culture, what kind of "good" movies one should be watching instead of culture-spoiling "western" stuff (makes a reference to some Kubrick or Tarantino flick that he hasn't seen but "knows" spoils our culture) and so on.
Our friend also has a habit of repeatedly stating the obvious, such as "I am what I am". Any attempts at logical conversation or argument will be thwarted with another status update mocking your lack of "good" taste/maturity followed by snide remarks from the flunkey brigade taking cowardly indirect jibes at your incompetence in living up to their expectations and tastes.
And now comes the question you've probably wanted to ask all this while: You are on fB too, then why the sarcasm and btw South Park beat you by miles?
The answer to that my friend -and if you aren't on my friend's list send me a request, my ego won't let me do vice versa- is that it's just like real life, where we put up with some people just because they're alive :) Live and let live, and if you miss out, catch the highlights on youtube!
This post will make it to my Facebook notes, and I will tag people too! To make them read it, comment and "like" it(or join the "Facebook should have a dislike button" community)! Because at the end of the day, we all update our Facebook statuses, so why shouldn't I? Ok, sometimes I even do it at the beginning of the day, especially when all I have is Elvis and Louis Armstrong for company during the bus journey to office. Heck I even update my status at noon, and in the middle of the night! Coz we're all addicted baby!
Enjoy your stay at fB :) Happy status-updating, catching up with friends, dissing, like-ing, sucking up, profile stalking or whatever it is that you're on fB for :)
PS: I know South Park beat me by miles and South Park \m/!
PPS: Yeah I know the title sucks; go ahead, put that as your status update
PPPS: If you didn't get the "Live and let live" vs "Highlights on youtube" joke, join the "I don't get Vijaynarain's stupid jokes" community on fB

Movie Review- Payya (there's no re-viewing this one :P)

2010-04-03T14:04:00.000+05:30

Payya raises a lot of questions. But no I'm not going to post all of them here, frankly because, though I remember having a lot of questions when I saw the movie, I just can't waste time to recollect all of them just for this blog's sake.

First: Why did they title the movie Payya? The closest I can come to guessing is someone who calls the shots wondered aloud "well, there's nothing in this movie that's worth giving it a title, what do we call it?" to which some guy who had probably invested a lot of money in the movie swore in tamil. And somehow the universe conspired and everybody suddenly agreed upon a censored version of the second guy's retort :P On second thoughts, I seem to be investing more time than the producers did in guessing the reason behind the title!

Question number two: Why does the hero not eliminate the main villain/vamp (the female who keeps calling the henchmen on their mobiles and gives them instructions in Telugu) ? Not that anyone's complaining after the 3 hour ordeal! Oops did I just spoil the movie for you?? Trust me, I saved your life.

Question number three/observation number one: Given the utter disregard to chronology, why does Milind Soman wear the same shirt throughout his life (in the movie)?/ Milind Soman needs a bath.

Ok enough questions let's look at what the movie has to offer: Boy stops job hunt after he begins girl hunt, takes friend's car and coincidence makes her take a lift in his car. Girl has a bunch of daddy's henchmen chasing her, guy has a bunch of Milind Soman's henchmen chasing him, #1 girl and guy move, henchmen chase, get beaten, songs follow, chase continues, henchmen get beaten, repeat from #1 till you're completely braindead.

So you ask me, can't you at least watch the movie for Tamannah's sake? I'd rather settle for watching her in the power soap ads (even though my chances of suffering an aneurysm hearing that jingle would multiply).

Payya is one of the best road movies to have ever been made. Makes you want to hit the road the moment you watch it!
Better editing would've been the key to this movie's success. I mean, seriously, the film could do away with two hours and still lose absolutely no entertainment value! Heck it had none to begin with!
Go watch Payya only if your most favourite movies list begins with sakkarakatti, and ends with Prem Agan :P

Mylapore Masala and Bus-Kisu-Kisu

2010-03-18T14:11:00.003+05:30

I have a problem with driving in Chennai. But let me not begin with that, considering I'm posting after really long and might as well start off not complaining. So, I’ll start with a rather amusing thing happened this morning on the way to office.

I missed my Siruseri office bus, something as unusual as the sun rising in the east or girls torturing guys' eyesight with Friday casuals. So here I was, waiting for subsequent TCO (Thoraipakkam branch) buses, so that I could catch an inter-office shuttle from TCO. As the first of the many TCO buses came, a confident me took out and wore my id card, and waved for the bus to stop. Now, I have no clue if Abhey Kuruvilla ever faced Waqar Younis, but if I were Navjot Singh Sidhu, I would've probably exclaimed, the bus passed by me like a Waqar Younis outswinger missing Abhay Kuruvilla's leading edge! Since I am not Navjot Singh Sidhu, I'll just stick to saying, the bus passed by me without stopping.

The next bus came in a span of four minutes. Don't ask me how I know that it took exactly four minutes. Four minutes is a fine time to remember to note, absolutely befitting the time it should take for a TCO bus to come after the previous one's passed by. I waved. There's something disconcerting and irritating about being noticed by the corner of the driver's eye, and noticing that the driver's looking at you from the corner of his eye. Split-second-"corner of eye"-to-"anxiously waiting for bus-eye"-contact, you may call it. Immediately the driver turned his gaze to straight ahead, as if straight down lay the answers to all the questions about the purpose of his incarnation on earth. Bus two passed, without stopping, noticing yet pretending not to notice a soul waving for it to stop.

By the time the third bus came, which was again in four minutes (call it coincidence or pure creative liberty that I chose four minutes again) I was almost in the middle of the road. If it came to that, the driver would have to at least run over my shoe to get past me (assuming I'd chicken out and make a dash for the footpath if the bus didn't stop). Thankfully the bus stopped. I got in.

The third TCO bus driver posed a rather difficult question:
"Enga poganum?" *where do you want to go*

I have a really bad sense of humour, which you've probably figured out by now. But little know that it gets worse when I'm in a bad mood. You might wonder who the hell would even care to HAVE a sense of humour in a really bad mood, but yeah that's how pathetic mine is. It just won't go, good mood or bad mood. It'll just stay there and get worse.

So, while one half of me screamed to give an imaginative reply to the driver's question, the other half which also happened to control my tongue functions replied "TCO".
"Athu theriyum, ethukku intha bus la yerineenga" *that I know, but why'd you get into THIS bus?*
"Siruseri bus miss pannitten" *I missed the Siruseri bus*.
I requested his highness to allow me to travel by this bus, to which he asked
"Aren't you the guy who sings on TV?"
"Yes"
"Antha orey kaaranuthunaala thaan ungala bus la yethinen. Naa romba strictu. Nalla paadineenga" *that's the only reason why I let you in the bus. I'm very strict. Good singing*

Talk about the fringe benefits of television!! That too almost a year after the aforementioned television appearance!

Little did I realize this guy actually meant what he said! I could make out from the way others in the road, and a rather unfortunate bus driver who happened to be on the wrong side of the road, and in the process blocking our way were treated.

Now back to the complaining part. This morning, I drove to Mylapore. The kind of setting one of those sappy romantic novels that I don't read would begin with: an orange sun, like the warmth of the tender heart, playing hide and seek through the golden leaves of trees lining either side of the road, their branches holding each other in a lovely embrace, forming a tunnel of glittering green... Till I took the left turn and came to the signal.

It was sunrise, and traffic was sparse. Doesn't mean one shouldn't follow signals. I have a habit of stopping my bike before the STOP line, because I believe that's what the purpose of the STOP line is. However, I seem to be rather lonely in this opinion. I also believe the timer in signals counts down successfully to 5-4-3-2-1 before the signal turns green, and doesn't countdown to 2-1-0-(-1)-(-2) when it turns red. However, most people seem to be blind to the last 5 seconds of the countdown to green, but turn surprisingly insightful in seeing shades of green even after the signal's turned red!

I decided to have a little fun. At the expense of the lorry driver right behind me. I stopped right before the STOP line, forcing this bloke to stop behind me. And even as other vehicles zapped off before the timer counted down, our guy was furiously honking, perhaps expecting me to follow suit. Till a couple of seconds after the signal turned green, I stay put, much to the chagrin of our truck driver.
In the imaginary words of a certain imaginary celebrity blogger with a tendency to self dramatize: I might have spoiled his morning, but I might have saved his life!! :D

Once again, after long, a misleading title just for readership sake ;-) So long suckers!

More posts coming soon (I hope!)

Of Ability, Music and Following the heart

2010-02-19T21:53:00.001+05:30

Been a hectic week. Last Saturday attended the Ability Awards, organized by the Ability Foundation, Chennai. An evening of light, music and dance, that culminated in a felicitation of a select few achievers. Achievers would be an understatement, considering these people had done things you and I couldn’t, and had done them despite being differently abled.

My association with the Ability Foundation goes back to 2005, when they conducted this competition called “60 seconds to fame”, as part of Ability Fest ‘05. This was a one minute short film contest, the topic being “An Inclusive Society”, the jury comprising Maniratnam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Nandita Das, Revathy and other people from the film fraternity. My film “Credits” was among the top 50 films, screened at the Ability Fest, at Anand Theatre. It was great to be part of another of the foundation’s initiatives, the Ability Awards ‘10.

Srinivas sir had been approached to perform for this event. He graciously decided to compose a new song for the cause, and when good intentions and music combine, nothing short of magic is created. We recorded the song in two days, and had super fun doing it! Singers included Ajesh, Ravi, Prasanna, Santosh, Ragini, Ranjani, Renu, Divya, Sharanya and myself. Others who contributed to the song were Navneeth, Aalap Raju and Keba. We also performed this song at the award ceremony.

Was at the MRF racing event to sing along with Pop Shalini. Apparently actor Ajith had been the main attraction, so when we performed a couple of Surya songs, the crowd got unruly and spilled onto the racing track in a bid to get the dj to play ‘thala’ songs. They wouldn’t submit unless ‘thala’ himself came. And come he did. He pleaded to his fans to stay put in their seats, and if not give him a good name, at least spare him disgrace. The fans obliged. Now that’s star power I say! We had to cut the concert short by then as it was time for the next racing session to begin.

Al jarreau started my week, and jazz is elevating to say the least. And humbling, as Srini sir says. Often I get the feeling we begin to concentrate more on the technical aspects of music as we learn more, and this leads to approaching a song very mechanically while composing or listening. In doing so, we miss out on the aesthetics of the song, and the very underlying purpose of music: happiness. Music is and should be from the heart, and not the mind. Typically, the kind of horripilation an untrained ear would experience listening to a Rahman song, would not be so pronounced in someone who bents on dissecting the song for chords, basslines and leads! Of course, from a musician point of view, such technical aspects are necessary for learning, but ultimately, I feel it is imperative to keep in mind, that the heart is the ruler!
Jazz does precisely this to me. It is profound, yet there is so much expression and emotion and happiness in it, that all you feel like doing is sit back, relax, forget the world and enjoy the music! Even if the guy next to you in the bus is a little too big for his seat and cramps you up!

Looking forward to an exciting week ahead musically :-) More news as events happen!

Of Love, Bones and V-Day Vendetta

2010-02-10T12:57:00.001+05:30

Long back, when Orkut was the latest craze, and creating communities like Gethu than aambalaikku sothu* was cool, I started one. Called V for Vengaayam. V-Day carnival posts (the latest buzz in office blogs) suddenly reminded me of that. Yeah I know totally irrelevant, but that’s the closest you could get me to writing on the topic! :P

So now you’re wondering if I’m the un-romantic, humourless bloke who cringes at the thought of celebrating love. Of course I’m not. I’m happily in love with a lot of people and things (like my Sennheiser headphones, Catch 22, Shreya Ghoshal …) And no, I’m not the kind who thinks our "Kalachaaram" is going down the drains with "western" influences like dating, mating etc. It’s just that I can’t seem to come up with mush or even write bearable fiction (read lowe stories) just because V-day’s around the corner.

I love observing people. That good looking girls constitute a majority of my observations is sheer coincidence. I mean, just imagine: there’s hardly any time to "observe" considering there’s very less scope during office hours, owing to a number of reasons, of which work probably figures in the last five, and scarcity of eye candy features in a very prominent position. Outside office, well, like the great Russian philosopher, Figaro Karektzovsky has stated, when you look for what you want to see, you see what you’re looking for.

So what’s this post about and what the hell does it have to do with V-Day? Well, this is about a few observations I’ve made. About good looking women? Maybe, but more about people in love, and what it does to their and others’ well being!
Here we go!

Music should touch the soul. And hence, when you sing, you should sing from the heart. But then, Oaayiye sung in less than half tempo, with oodles of expression and "peelings" was a little too much for us to take during one of our trips. This friend just wouldn’t stop. We didn’t complain, and call me the most unromantic person on earth, but isn’t singing Jalakku Jalakku Jariga Selai with extra peelings crossing the limit?? (For my non-tamil speaking readers, this would be equivalent of crooning What is your ishtyle number in "My heart will go on" mode for your sweetheart). The things love does to people!

And then there’s the Kabab Mein Haddi (Soathula Kallu) syndrome. A friend of mine recently found himself transmogrifying into the Haddi. Of course he loved his new role and found great pleasure in irritating his friend. The best part of having a friend who seems to be smitten, is the confusion that arises out of not knowing for sure if he’s in love. So our Haddi, who travels to work every day with his friend, let’s call him Buddy for convenience’s sake, finds himself politely offering his seat to Buddy’s Cuddy (the girl, named thus, coz it sounds similar to "cuddly" and cuddly is a…well cute n cuddly word). Now Haddi and Cuddy are good friends too, but Cuddy politely (and embarrassedly) refuses and takes a seat few rows ahead.

Little does poor Haddi know how badly pissed Buddy is, with Cuddy for refusing the offer. His attempts to strike conversation with Buddy are met with glances that chill him…to the bone! Haddi gradually realizes his new "Bone Identity". After the initial few moments of realization, it occurs to him, this could be great fun after all. As Buddy and Cuddy furiously type away on their mobiles alternately, Haddi realizes sending a few forwards to these two would be a lovely idea.
Haddi now lies in a hospital, suffering from abnormal calcification and multiple fractures suffered from accidentally being pushed off a moving bus.

Now we come to the desperados. There’s a lot of these types... The ones that are suckers to Orkut and Facebook fraandships. Oh how we laughed when a month old online relationship ended in an absolute fiasco when the two finally decided to meet at a restaurant and what followed was more or less like the "thangachi manimegalai" comedy :-p Our poor guy was in for a shocker when the girl ( who by now you would’ve guessed was quite contrary to what he had imagined her to be) turned up with her BIG brother and proposed right in front of Bhayya. I hear these days he’s switched to Facebook.

Yeah I know it’s easy to make fun of others. But hey who cares. You guys can make fun of me and Shreya and watch us blush! *naadirdaana dhirenaana naa plays in the background Goa style* ;-)

Those of you who are single and saved, here’s wishing you loads of girlfriends and boyfriends this V-day! And those in love, here’s wishing you a great life and speedy recovery J

*I couldn’t translate this one literally, as the word Gethu is pretty difficult to translate. The expression more or less means : Composure is a man’s treasure (I find myself going yuck at the poetry!)

Kuwait Awaits! :)

2010-01-28T12:56:00.001+05:30

Off to Kuwait tonight for a show. First trip abroad, so pretty excited! Loads of songs, some packing and a computer which crashed last night just before I went to sleep, only to refuse to wake up in the morning. Windows needs reinstallation. What timing!

Flying Emirates en route Dubai I am told. Ragini, Ranjani and Ajesh are part of the show too. Anything exciting to look out for in Kuwait? Suggestions welcome!
You folks have a great weekend! :)

Of dogs eating dogs, headbanging and eggless cakes

2010-01-25T13:32:00.004+05:30

Monday morning. A weekend gone by like a school time summer holiday. A week ahead that always seems much longer than the weekend that just went by. Because it really is. The best part of a Monday like this one of course, is the Tuesday that follows. But alas, it isn't often that such a phenomenon as a holiday should occur on a Tuesday and incidentally, follow a Monday so immediately. Hence let's realize its significance and celebrate this wonderful occurrence.

Coming to the weekend that went by. Started off wonderfully well. Sleep. Returned in a sleep deprived world's-a-bitch-why-isn't-it-my-day mood from office and beyond. Fell blissfully asleep listening to Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya, dreamed about some random gig somewhere and woke up without being woken up. Which was pretty late in the morning.

Is it fate or negligence that I haven't seen Avatar yet while most of my friends have and so they wouldn't give me company? I choose to blame the former. I can't help if I were destined to be lazy! Ended up watching Sherlock Holmes in the evening with a friend. Good movie. Devi Bala seemed like an extension of one of our office conference rooms, the only difference being, no one slept through the movie.

Decided to go to Saarang after the movie to watch the light music finals. Entering IIT felt eerie. The last time I was here… well, it was the last time I was. The music had stopped then. Something was surely missing this time, and I knew precisely what. One of those life defining moments you'll not want to write about till you're old enough and yet can't resist mentioning. By the time we'd entered the oat the crowd had lessened and we were in time to catch the last two bands. I've always wanted to perform at Saarang but missed out. Someday I hope I will. It's one of the best crowds you could perform to!

Shreya has won the National Award again. That's her fourth in the seven years she's been around in the industry. Way to go. Love you loads! And Hariji's got his second. Well, he perhaps deserves a lot more, but then they're national awards, meaning they come with a delicious serving of sodium chloride. So, while I’m immensely happy for Shreya, I don't think she'd be a lesser mortal(read angel) had she failed to win a single national award. Listened to the song that fetched them the award. Jiv rangala from Jogwa. Beautifully sung and well composed. Recommended.

Loitered around Saarang yesterday afternoon, catching half of the light music solo competition where Ragini was the judge. Incidentally a couple of contestants from Supersinger were participants :p! Had super fun watching Powerchord prelims; double bass, headbanging, screaming, growling and mostly hilarious occasionally good music.

Friend reports, as I type, that SEL gave one of their best concerts ever last night. Missed it because I didn't feel like going and hence didn't buy tickets. Fate I reckon.
Cut a midnight cake for my sister. Eggless pure vegetarian, just the way she likes it. Here's wishing her a wonderful birthday and a great life ahead :)

Hope this week's eventful. Should be if things go as per plan. Now back to betrayed-by-dog-eat-dog-world-where-every-dog-has-its-day-yet-I'm-still-waiting-for-mine mode. You folks have a swell week :)

PS: This post was typed on my mobile's miniscule keyboard. Some really bad music on the bus gave me no other option.

Music Review: Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya (A.R.Rahman)

2010-01-21T11:47:00.002+05:30

Composer: A.R.Rahman
Director: Gautam Vasudev Menon

Ok, perhaps a little late, but decided to take my time, listen to the songs and let them sink in before I wrote this.

While the idea of a Hindu-Christian wedding song itself isn't new, Anbil Avan boasts of a cool church organ interlude and some nice harmonies. I think it's success largely depends on how it is picturized and used in the movie. Commercial stuff.

Hosanna got leaked before the audio released, and we were left wondering why the arrangements were kind of empty. When the actual version came out, the song was in a completely different plane. The chord progressions Rahman uses to transit between the major scales are brilliantly thought and arranged (a voice inside me goes "ahem we're talking about Rahman here"). A very commercial yet cute song, with nice singing by Vijay Prakash and lovely rap by Blaaze. The very cleverly placed "Hello"s lend recall value, and I can already see college crowds responding to the singer's Hello's ;-)

The opening bell chords, Benny's earnest crooning, some brilliant voice processing work and a kickass carnatic nadaswaram backing bring a vintage Rahman flavour to Omana Penne. The Malayalam portion blends beautifully with these elements and you have a killer of a song which, despite being modern, arrangements- wise, still makes you wish Rahman came back to his Kizhakku Cheemayile days and gave more of this stuff.

Aaromaley, the malayalam song Rahman gave as an addition. If add-ons were this good, I'd settle for an album of add-ons and no main songs :P The first thing that struck me when I heard this song the first time was : hey, what's that note he's reached! A bluesy guitar groove, carnatic distortion violin *jaw drops* and a beautiful mallu chorus with Rahman written all over superbly compliment Alphonse's I've-arrived-now-shut-up-and-listen singing! Reminds me of Steve Tyler of Aerosmith, as he goes "Crazy". A little too much for TFM to digest in one meal I suppose. That note is top D by the way, and top D is a mighty high note to reach. Song of the album? Read on.

The title track is a breath of fresh air, or should I say a whisper rather. For that's how Karthik has sung this, with romance sottifying all over. I haven't yet got the hang of this song fully, given the mind blowing guitar chords that back this song only to be taken to a totally different level after the scale change. Another genre definition by Rahman in this song, and though I'm not quite sure about its commercial success, the experimentation deserves full marks, and Karthik finally gets a killer after a spate of ajiligujilis.

As if Shreya weren't enough reason to raise my expectations sky high, Rahman sings in Mannippaya. And how! If Shreya's initial pleading melts, Rahman's take in this song is out of the world. Lovely chord progressions again, and on repeated listening, I get the feeling Rahman's outdone Shreya in this song. Shreya, if you're reading this, Mannipaya?? :(
I was desperately wishing this would be the best song in the album. But Aaromaley, Omana Penne and the title track keep announcing themselves, leaving me in a dilemma. Four equally brilliant songs in one album is nothing less than a treat!

Kannukkul Kannai Katti fades in comparison to the four other songs that scream of the Rahman stamp, and offers nothing fresh. Again, largely visual dependent stuff.

Just when you're hoping Rahman comes up with something as good in Tamil as the stuff he's been churning out in Hindi, here comes VTV. Four brilliant trend-setters, one excellent commercial number and a couple of average yet hit-potential filled-tracks. Quite a package!

Rahman raises the bar yet again and offers new challenges to other composers!

PS: Couple's Retreat has been nominated for the Oscars. Not quite Oscar Winning material if you ask me. But who cares! Here's hoping the Midas touch works again! Go Rahman sir Go!

Untitled Poem

2010-01-19T23:59:00.001+05:30

Reposting a meme from my office blog. Rules:

> The tags should include poem-with-no-title
> The poem should preferably be just random thoughts and abstract-ish

This was my post :

A vast expanse of blue sky
Disappearing into a golden horizon
Of dust and sand
Where do I see my destiny?
What is the direction I take?

This lifescape’s so beautiful
Like a picture waiting to be painted,
Colours so many, possiblities endless,
Yet why this temptation to paint it blue?

I trudge along, like I will,
Like I have.
Colouring, layering, blotting, erasing…

Where am I in this horizon,
Where will I be tomorrow?
And when I look back, will I see again
The vast expanse of a bluer sky,
Disappearing into a yellow horizon
Of dust and sand,
That I’ve left behind?

Rejection- 2

2010-01-18T12:24:00.002+05:30

The blood boiled in him. Although his mind that had been screaming this very outcome throughout, he was in absolute denial when his thoughts actually manifested themselves in the form of the gruff voice of the Dean, telling him his nomination had been cancelled. It was the scuffle. Of course there had been but one witness, Mandira when it actually happened. To think it was an elaborately hatched plan executed so skillfully well amazed him, adding to his increasing frustration. It was no mean achievement to be among the top five students in this prestigious college, and just when his dreams of becoming the college leader seemed one step away having been nominated for the post, they were disintegrating right in front of his eyes. A woman's tears were tearing them apart, shred by shred. Fake tears, as he now realized.

It had never occurred to him that when he went to stop the two thugs from misbehaving with Mandira- about whom he hardly knew except that she was a friend of Dhanraj, his competition for the elections- that her association with Dhanraj could be close enough for her to do this. She had screamed for help, he had rushed to help, a scuffle had ensued, and short tempered that he was, he had given one of the thugs a broken nose. The next day the entire college had seemed weird to him. People seemed to regard him with a certain apprehension. Closer friends chose to try and convince him it was better that he wasn’t contesting in the elections.

He was summoned to the Dean's room, where he saw Mandira crying. The two thugs, students from the college who had never been seen in the college were present too. When Mandira looked at him through her tears, she suddenly turned furious. Everything that followed seemed to be right out of a movie. Dean had told him he was extremely disappointed with his behaviour with the "lady" and that instead of being a paragon of leadership and excellence, he had set a wrong example to the students, and hence his nomination would have to be cancelled. Something about the way the Dean put all of this seemed artificial to him, almost as if he were saying it with a tinge of guilt and a gun to his head.

It indeed was like in the movies, he thought. Mandira's testimony was enough for the college to believe. Not too many knew of her closeness with Dhanraj, though Dhanraj's closeness to his MLA uncle was known to all and advertised by the Mercedes Benz that he used to sometimes skid around college.
But in the movies, doesn't the hero win?

Jammin’ with Srishti- Live @ Chennai Sangamam- Invite :-)

2010-01-14T00:15:00.002+05:30

Hi Folks,I am performing with my band Srishti on the 14th (Pongal) as part of the Chennai Sangamam extravaganza that’s going on in the city. Please treat this as a personal invite to attend the concert :)

The gig:

Date: 14th Jan, 2009

Venue: Elliot’s beach

Time: 6 to 7.30

The band: Srishti is a Tamil Rock Band, one of the winning bands of Ooh la la la (Tv show), adjudged by A.R.Rahman.We will be performing a range of own compositions and rock adaptations of folk and popular film music.Lineup:

Vocals: Vijaynarain, Nrithya

Guitars: Arvind

Bass: Saajith

Keys: Natasha

Drums: Soundar

Wind, Sand, Rock and Pongal!! It’s all there!

PS: Entry is free (in case you didn’t notice it’s the beach peeps ) so BE THERE!

Rejection - 1

2010-01-08T15:43:00.000+05:30

She loved animals… to the extent that she had almost made up her mind to quit her newfound job and join the Blue Cross. She was sure she could afford to do that, though she knew it was definitely not what her parents had in mind for her. Her mother had shrugged the idea off when she had told her about it rather amusedly. Almost as if the thought of her daughter working towards animal welfare was outright hilarious. Her father had been more understanding, telling her it wasn’t what the daughter of a renowned businessman of his stature should be doing. He had been nice enough to add that she could join the family business if she didn’t like her IT job and perhaps visit the Blue Cross now and then. She had reminded him that she was already visiting the Blue Cross once a week, and that if he paid a little attention to family, he would know. This had irked him and further logical conversation was thwarted.

Her friends were a jolly bunch. Though she had this constant feeling of being the least important one in the group, they were probably the best set of friends she had. They were at least not as averse to her animal activism ideas as her parents. Of course they joked about it, but their jokes were aimed more at her vehement support for animal welfare than at her career aspirations. So she could withstand it when Dinesh purposely gorged on a chicken leg in front of her or Anisha repeated the tale of how her whole family wheezed continuously for almost a week when a cat had entered her house and refused to leave.

What bothered her most was the doubt that perhaps she were being looked upon as abnormal because of her passion. Or was it some other flaw in her character, she often wondered. Simple incidents like her friends assuming she’d turn up for lunch and forgetting to call her would put her off. And then Shweta arrived in her life. Shweta, the girl every girl would have wanted to be. Topper graduate, great looks, and a vocabulary as diverse as the topics she could talk about. Anything under the sun! The best part was, Shweta was one girl who wouldn’t let all this get into her head. She gelled extremely well with the group. They immediately became friends. On learning that Shweta was an animal lover too, her joy had known no bounds. Now they had two people to make fun of, and perhaps take more seriously too, she had thought.

But the trouble with Shweta was that she gelled too well with the group. So well that when one day Shweta narrated in a serious tone, how she had rushed a bleeding puppy run over by a scooter, to the hospital and got it treated, the entire group listened in stunned silence. She listened in stunned silence too. Except, she was more stunned by the fact that she had had personal incidents like this one quite a few times, and her friends had never reacted thus when she had made an attempt to tell them about it. The topic had always changed, with a “oh we all know you’re sweet” giggle from one of the girls.

Now as Shweta narrated her story, she could almost sense empathy among her friends. What was it that made her friends empathize with Shweta for the same things they joked about with her? It was definitely clear that her friends did not look down upon Shweta because she was an animal activist! Now she was convinced it was some flaw with herself, her own doing that garnered her less attention and respect. An overwhelming sense of incompetence and inferiority rose in her. She controlled her tears, lest her friends think she was moved by Shweta’s story and add fuel to the fire. Was she jealous of Shweta? Perhaps, she thought. Was she too submissive and hence taken for granted? Why was she “not quite in the league” and just an add-on to the group? Questions seemed to spin around her like the birds in those Bugs Bunny cartoons when Bugs hit his head on something. If only she could take all of this as seriously as she took those Loony Tunes cartoons! But had those cartoons not been what had interested her in animals in the first place?

An influence too significant not to write about! A birthday post :)

2010-01-06T12:45:00.000+05:30

First post of the year.
As I write this post, Pakistan is limping towards a highly improbable defeat. They seem to be snatching it from the jaws of victory! For the love of cricket (read for the hatred of Oz), I really hope they win. Good ol' test cricket is anyday more interesting than slam bangs! Heck it doesn't even seem to register or make me care any less that India lost against SL yesterday.

This post is not about cricket. It's about something else totally.I remember Karthik of itwofs writing a post about a certain Rahman realization point eons ago. I had then wanted to immediately come up with a post of my own explaining this RRP as we'll call it henceforth.

My earliest memories of music come from swinging in the hammock of our triplicane house, listening to Preeti Sagar's rhymes. This was when I was in the UKG. My memory isn't that good, but some thoughts just seem to stick. Another cassette that used to loop was Anjali.

Cut to some three years later, and Delhi had Doordarshan telecasting Superhit Muqabla. I don't quite recollect which one I heard first, Chinna chinna aasai or Dil hai chota sa. There were some other songs that were famous during those days, including Baba Sehgal's Dil Dhadke, Yeh Kali Kali aankhen too roo roo, Jab bhi koi ladki dekhoon mera dil deewana bore ole ole. Tamil songs were hardly heard, since there was no cable in the house, and carnatic music was what was mostly played on the cassette player.

There were a few title ids that I used to love back then in third or fourth standard, including "All the best" sung by Shankar Mahadevan, I would later come to know, the "Chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai" jungle book song, "CIET lekar aaya tarang tarang" and of course, the Spirit of Unity theme, composed by the then Dilip Kumar.

Fast forward to sixth standard… I was in Salem, and this one day, dad brought home two cassettes. One was Colonial Cousins, and the other, Dil ki Baat, a ghazal album by Hariharan. Dad told me he was a famous ghazal singer he had heard about, but hadn't heard. I took an instant liking to the new sound Colonial Cousins offered, and Dil ki Baat took some time to warm up to. A year later, dad would buy a cassette that was by then the most talked about album of the nation. I still remember mom asking dad why he spent on this "album" (back then in our house, if a cassette was bought it was either Kadri Gopalnath or Maharajapuram Santhanam) without knowing how it would sound. Vande Mataram had arrived, and the name A.R.Rahman made its way into my head, in full consciousness.

Dad was posted then to a rural branch, a place called Vaikuntam on the Salem-Erode highway. It was little more than a village, and our flat was on the first floor of the bank. Not too many friends to play with and a school that was twelve kilometers away, entertainment presented itself in the form of occasional cricket, travel to salem and music on the "deck" as it was called then. Vande Mataram grew on me then. Only you was my most favourite song. I didn't know back then, it was a kickass bass groove that gave the song it's charmth, but I used to hum that bassline and just love it when Rahman sir went Oooo.

One year in Vaikuntam had me travelling quite a lot in "private travels” buses to Salem, Erode etc and familiarized me with quite a few Tamil film songs including Indian and Ratchagan (without knowing they were by Rahman), Naerukku Naer, Rosa Poo Chinna Rosa Poo, Oru pattampoochi nenjukkulle, Jalakku Jalakku Jariga Selai, Machan Un machiniya paathiya... I remember loving engengey from Naerukku Naer (without knowing of course that Charukesi is one raaga that can't sound bad even if Himesh sang it).

"Ganpati Bappa Moriya"! Ganpati time in Bombay and our housing society used to have weeklong celebrations. Songs on loudspeakers were an integral part. Taal and Dil se had released and I remember everyone raving about Dil Se while I still had no clue whatsoever. And then I heard Jiya Jale on one of those Ganpati fest days. A.R.Rahman had arrived in my life big time… went to Rhythm House in VT, bought this Signature ARR collection cassette by T-Series. I must say that though this particular compilation didn't feature some of his best songs, I loved it!

Eleventh standard. Lonely days. Parents in Bombay, staying in aunt's house in Chennai, and a school (yeah not college) where all people seemed to care about was studies and marks. Cutthroat competition they used to say and I always used to keep my neck low, scoring below average and sparing them the chance to cut my throat since I never really was competition. One train journey from Bombay to Chennai had me looping DCH and Lagaan, a CD I proudly owned thanks to a friend who by then owned a CD writer!
Pakistan has just lost another wicket. :-@

Lagaan was my RRP! I realized this was the guy that would lead me to musical salvation. This was the guy I would focus my goals on, to progress in music. And this was the guy I would listen to, even if he recorded a sneeze and released it as an album!

Years later, Ooh la la la happened and fulfilled my dreams of meeting the man himself. Having him call out my band's name on video while announcing the winning bands, was a moment not too insignificant to write about several times in life, whenever I do decide to write.

Another wicket down. 43 needed with 2 wickets in hand and more than a day's play left. Screw you Oz!

Last year Super Singer happened, and I made it a point to sing as many Rahman songs on the show as possible, and it reaped rich rewards. I made it to the semi finals and the songs that got me out of it, I can proudly claim, were NOT Rahman sir's songs!

This post is perhaps one of my longest, but it is most heartfelt too. I started it with the intention of writing beautiful words about Rahman sir and seem to have ended up writing about scattered instances of his music playing its part in my life so far. People say his music grows on us. His music has always been packed with so many details and intricacies and aesthetic elements, that it is US who grow with his music and realize at a certain point that there is some inexplicable magic woven into a fabric of melody and rhythm that is beyond just technicality and sound. Perhaps divine intervention some might say.

In conclusion, Happy Birthday A.R.Rahman sir! I would be ever grateful to you, for bringing good music into my life, being the major motivating factor behind any of my musical aspirations, and stimulating the listener in me! May you keep the awesome run going and continue to give us what you've always been giving: Great music irrespective of genre, language or country!
Ella Pugazhum Oruvanukke!!
Jai Ho!

Of shampoo ads, new year resolutions and the East India Company

2009-12-30T13:20:00.000+05:30

I still haven’t seen Avatar, and though initially I didn’t think it would arouse interest, the hype people around me are giving, including sensible ones, makes me want to watch it. Heck, it’s being touted as the cinematic experience of the decade and all that. So I am pretty curious.

This Monday, I had this strange feeling of missing the Saathumadhu(rasam) saadham and chips combo at night. It’s then that I realized I hadn’t had dinner at home for five days straight. Yes lunch I did have, but I had been dining outside continuosly. Nothing beats home food!

It’s that time of the year when people make resolutions. And write about people who make resolutions. I’m not going to try and be different and claim I won’t write about them. As a matter of fact, I’m already two sentences into writing about new year resolutions, as usual without getting anywhere close to the point.
Well, the news is, I don’t think I have any new year resolutions but for a few important ones including finishing off watching all the movies in my comp and in the process do justice to the Hitchcocks, Kubricks and Coen Brothers waiting on my hard disk like a newly committed girl on her first dinner date(I can come up with such absolutely corny metaphors too :P)

Had a fun shoot at Vijay TV a couple of days ago. New year special. Sang with this enthu kid Sharat. I think it’ll go on air on New Year day in the morning on Star Vijay. Was great meeting up with the supersinger ‘06, SSJr-1, ‘08 and the current kids gang.

Another update: if you happen to hear a shampoo ad jingle go “Yelelangadi Yelelangadi” on tv, the male voice is mine. Cavin Care product. My first official recording to make it on-screen, hence the aarva kolar :D

I’ve been reading Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies, and what seemed to be a tad bit dragging initially has turned out to be quite an engrossing story which I hope to finish in the next few days. I haven’t read much Indian fiction, in fact apart from the non-detail english schoolbooks that had R.K.Narayan and Ruskin Bond, I think 5 point someone’s the only Indian Fiction I’ve read. As I type this, I remember a storybook I got free with Complan when I was in class four or five. The author was Bengali and it was about some kids getting marooned on an island. I remember liking the story very much. Coming back to Amitav Ghosh, either considerable research has gone into the variegated society and cultures that existed in 19th century India, or the author has superhuman imagination to conjure up so much detail.

Doing a show with Karthik and Pop Shalini tomorrow. Should be fun :)

And before I forget, whatever little I heard of Hosanna rocks!! Looking forward eagerly to the audio. May thalaivar Rock and other precious stones :D

Last but not least, here’s wishing you folks a Wonderful and Happy New Year! May this year fulfill all your dreams and wishes and provide you with unbounded happiness! In addition to other things, may this year improve my prospects of pataaofying Shreya ;-)

Of Super Singer Jr 2 and singing to tunes

2009-12-15T22:34:00.004+05:30

I haven't really been able to catch much of the second installment of Super Singer junior, mostly because working out of Siruseri (read almost Andhra border), you are kind of tempted to give yourself a pat on the back(which is again kind of inconvenient) if you're able to reach home by the time the sun sets. So my opinions in this post are pretty much based on the performances I've caught every now and then on TV. If you beg to differ, kindly go ahead and do so. But this is my blog, and since you're gonna be begging, the old adage says you can't really choose :-D
I do not want to pick out any favourites as such, but you've gotta give it to these kids (and I mean only the real "kids")! The talent is amazing!

There's a duet round going on this week. Mom follows more or less every week. There's this one-contestant-build-up-thingy that happens from time to time in these reality shows. Part n parcel of the game. So I decided to see if it was going on here. The duet round took me back a year to the duet round we had in Super Singer '08. Pretty much the same rules. One sofa, where the best couple gets to sit and if they managed to keep their asses glued to it till the 3 episodes are over, they get double promoted. Back then, we had guessed and rightly so, who would end up with sticky bottoms even before the first contestant sang.

Watching the episode yesterday, there was this feeling of deja vu, which was only reinforced watching half of today's episode. A certain couple sang Azhage Sugama, and though personally I feel one of them is a brilliant singer, this particular performance didn't really strike a chord. Perhaps I do not have the right to pass judgments, but I can smuggle opinions which I most certainly will. That song is close to my heart. And there was definitely soul lacking in the song, especially in the male vocalist's rendition. Of course, like I guessed, they were given the hot seat, or rather the sticky seat ;) And my guess was, they wouldn't be replaced at least in tomorrow's episode.

Today's episode began with a brilliant rendition of Rathiriyil Poothirukkum. Beautifully coordinated singing, even voice presence, and flawless singing by both the kids. There was not much room for finding errors in either. So what do you do now? Well, you heighten one's performance in contrast to the other and make the audience think the other probably lacked that extra something this one had(also known by several names like the X factor, the hogwash factor, bullshit etc). So now that there's a contrast, the sofa can't be theirs can it? While the performance, individually and collectively was miles ahead of azhage sugama, the sofa and it's contents remained the same. The boy who sang rathiriyil was spot selected, the audience, treated to a commercial break. And made to forget that something was abysmally wrong.

Tomorrow, I declare today, there is a 90 percent chance that particular hot seat will retain its contents. Even if Hariji and Shreya were to sing a duet :) Let's see...

And if it does come true, I'm gonna end this post with a smiley. Tomorrow.

And here ends my post with a smiley :-D

Sil Sil Sil Sillellaaa

2009-12-11T15:04:00.000+05:30

Seems like Cognizant’s planning to do research on the impact of cryogens on productivity. And volunteers have been randomly chosen across locations I believe. Or should I say guinea pigs??

Been freezing to death in my seat since morning. It’s been progressively getting colder in my work area the past few days and repeated calls and mails to the Admin finally had them sending one of their personnel out here to my neighbour’s seat. This was yesterday. After reassurances that they would “reduce the AC”, they left.

Today they’ve lived up to their word. They’ve “reduced” the temperature. Yeah so what about it, you may ask. Ask. Oh you don’t want to? That’s fine, don’t ask, I’m gonna tell anyway. The answer’s pretty obviious: I’m friggin freezing here!

What a topic to be blogging about! I mean, without the exclamation. Freezing in your seat, hands hardly moving, fingers alone searching for the keys and typing away! And you are expected to work!! Perhaps the underlying research is based on cooling the brain till it assumes semiconducting properties and hence increasing the neruological activities, thereby increasing productivity!

Reminds me of this poster stuck on the glass walls of TCO library. Got a quote from this magazine “Frozen Thoughts” (get the joke?? *wink wink*). It goes “When you squeeze an orange, only orange juice comes out”. I don’t remember the rest of what the writer aimed to metaphorize, but this was enough to make me wish I were Goundamani at that moment! Err… he would’ve perhaps reacted with something like “Dei mosambi mandaya, orange a puzhinja pinna pazhani panchamrutham a varum?!”
For my non-tamil-understanding readers, Goundamani is one of the best slapstick, slap-on-your-face, kick-ass-and-everywhere-else comedians in Tamil movies, never too short of an absofckinlutely hilarious insult when you need one! And that particular line would more or less literally translate to : You SweetLimeHead/Slimehead! What else do you expect to get out of squeezing an Orange, Pazhani Panchamrutham?? (Pazhani is a holy place in TN where you get this sweet nectar as prasad, called Panchamrutham, and I’m sure you couldn’t care less about it :P).

Battle of the Bands is reaching it’s finale today. Where it was, pre-finale you ask. I don’t know. But it seems I’ve to perform today. With temperatures bound to hit subzero in a few hours, looks like I’ll be singing like SRK today. Kkkkyunki baas bhi kkkkkkabhi badboooo thi! (multiple K’s to be understood as SRK’s kakakaka stuff and not to be confused with Ekkkkkta Kkkapoorr’s numerological attempts at finding a partner).

You folks have a good weekend! And make sure you don’t get stuck in a freezer! Crazy buggers ha!
PS: The title is arguably one of the best songs to have ever been composed in Tamil Film Music history! Ice breaking I’d say!

Friday Fury aka Ayyo aatha pulla bayapduthu!

2009-12-04T21:42:00.003+05:30

Friday: The day everyone in IT looks forward to… everyone except perhaps those who have to work the Saturday after. Of course, they might also look forward to Friday, nothing wrong with that. In fact they wouldn’t possibly want to look any other way to Friday, because if they were to look backward to Friday on say Saturday, they’d be wasting their time, and stuck in office late into the evening. Coming back to the pointless beginning of this post, Friday, the day everyone looks forward to.

So here’s typically how we* GUYS feel on Friday:

Generic IT guy: Wakes up in the morning, and thinks: whew just one more day. Hope I cruise through this one! Oops, status call today, gotta wake up and get started…

Brushes, bathes and then: Whoa do I have clothes ironed??! Shit it’s gettin late for the bus! Wait, it’s friday. Thank God!

And then goes on to wear rumpled jeans and some random T shirt (collared mind you).

The bus! My ipod!Phone rings: “Hey I’m rushing for the bus, call you back!”

Since no man has ever dared to understand what goes behind the feminine skull, here’s what probably some girls/women feel on Friday:

Err, hang on we’re talking about women** here, so let’s take it from Thursday night: Oh dear what am I going to wear tomorrow (note that the “dear” is different from the “dear” that forms an irritating part of text messaging jargon that goes more or less “what dear why are you angry ya” or “i am wearing yellow chudidhar only dear, because i knows you likes it ma. Hey when you going onsite ya?”)

And then rummages through shelf/closet/whatever it is that holds those kilos of fiber that strangulate us men by their handiwork, machinework, footwork etc ): How about that black dress with my pink jean?? (ya ya it’s kewl to say/think jeans without the “s” )

Or maybe that skirt that sweeps everyone off the floor (little does she realize it sweeps not everyone off the floor, but just the floor alone). And that mucus green teeshut to go with! I should go with Alagumani tomorrow to Saravana stores and buy a few more shaets like that one…

Friday Morning: Still undecided about the two choices life gave her last night, she calls up Alagumani at 6 AM for a suggestion. Meanwhile Alagumani has problems of her own, having spent a sleepless night deciding between a sleeveless top to fit her swelled (not svelte; and smartasses, I know the correct word’s “swollen” but “swelled” sounds misleading and similar to “svelte”, hence the usage) figure and a formal gents checked shirt that her dad no longer wears but she is sure would look fabulous on her.

The two discuss for about an hour, and since all that is beyond the imagination process of the sane male and even intelligent handsome women and beautiful men like SRK, Karah Johar, Karishma Kapoor, Priyamani etc respectively, I shall not write about it. Of course, one part of this topic definitely was whether to wear mallipoo or rose.

Almost time for the bus, and our girl/woman/aunty here hasn’t yet decided on what she’s going to wear. Ultimately, after a really long battle with her conscience, she unleashes upon the world, her avatar for this Friday. More or less this : Mucus colored teeshat with bugs bunny printed, big bindi, mallipoo, one dupatta that looks like a noose from the Andaman gallows (only, it doesn’t serve good enough it’s purpose, though hundreds of onlookers would wish it did), a glittering (meaning peppered here and there with gold and silver jiguna) red, and I mean the Melmaruvathur shade skirt, a pair of shining jimukis almost as if to keep her level-headed by balancing the weight across both ears, and of course high heels.

At bus stop: “Hey Alagumani, super a irukka dee. How is my shert ya? “

Alagumani: “Ada podi you also, he is not answering phone call when I do properly only, I am tension!”

Friday used to be the day Star Movies had this 9 PM movie, under the category Friday Fury…used to be action flicks from the East mostly. What fun it was! Now Friday is the day cows would get ample opportunities to put their horns to use, only they aren’t allowed in the premises! A mail pops up as a type with the subject “Thank God it’s Friday”. Just this morning as we went for breakfast my friend goes “Uh oh”. We call it the Oh God it’s Friday syndrome. And it’s waiting to getcha!

*When I say “we” it refers to most of us. Don’ want no smartass asking me not to generalize. My blog, my generalizations, so screw you smartass!

** When I say “women” here, it does not refer to my dear (again!) friends and readers of the opposite sex, and other such people bestowed upon by providence with common sense and other important senses like dressing. It refers to the hundred others who, in spite of perhaps decent looks, and in some cases, even possible potential for looking dashing, screw up their dressing and end up causing irreversible brain damage to sensible people mentioned above.

Disclaimer: This post is no way intended to make fun of people’s looks. Its main intention is to make fun of people’s dressing sense, which I’m sure you would’ve understood by now. If not, the below note’s for you.

Note to the smartasses : I claim no responsibility for whatsoever offence you might’ve incurred by this post, coz it’s not my fault that you have your smartness residing elsewhere!

Tags: Bad dressing, Friday, Loss of eyesight, Bulls, Smartasses, Tags are NOT a fashion statement please don’t wear them

The Mountain

2009-11-24T18:22:00.000+05:30

Spectacular the golden sheath,
The morning sun upon the mountain peak,
A majestic mass of imposing stone,
Shone like it were His golden throne!

Spoke the town, of the mountain's beauty,
Spoke the river of his towering presence,
Envied the hills, for they felt but meek
In the darkness of his shadow immense.

Come dawn and the sun would cast
A golden glance, loving and warm
Rays of light in the morning mist,
Glittering like a sorcerer's charm!

As the populace its glory extolled,
As turned the valley, in envy, green
The worst of storms the mount had weathered
But only the golden coat was seen.

He hadn't asked for the sun to shine,
Upon him, in resplendent sympathy,
Or the angry gale to test his resilience,
And unleash itself in all its fury.

But, the golden coat was all they could see
And from it sprung their admiration or jealousy
Neither friend nor foe did the mountain crave,
Yet tests of strength he had to brave.

In solitude the mountain reflected:Though
Never intending to, a hindrance be,
He had been but a lonely chunk of rock
Separating land from the sea.

Does every post need a title? What title would you give the life you've lived so far?

2009-11-11T18:35:00.001+05:30

You know I think life ought to be lived by the moment. Every moment cherished and savoured. For all you know, we could stop existing the next second. And I doubt providence is benevolent enough to give all of us the time and circumstances to reach all the goals we/others set for us. It's about realizing that the journey towards these goals, just the ones that matter to us, is most important. It's about realizing that life's too precious to be wasted away in monotonous pursuit of something imposed upon us by self or society, in the hope of euhporia on reaching that goal, sacrificing the little pleasures on the way! Life isn't about completing what we started. It's about starting whatever we want to, and taking it only as far as it interests us! For there's no guarantee you'll reach the goal in time, and in the end, if you don't, you would've at least had the satisfaction of a pleasant journey...

No, I'm not saying anything new here, neither am I trying to sound profound. It's just that fate has an iron clasp, and it's upto us to decide if we want sqirm in its grip and cut our wrists or give in and let it lead us, and atleast strike up interesting conversation with the prisoners it picks along on the way.

That thing about her!! aka That thing about your sister (if you're a guy)

2009-10-23T14:43:00.000+05:30

I've been wondering of late what it is about her that's driving me crazy! And the answer is something I will definitely have a hard time finding. Even the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy won't tell me :(

Now I want to settle with her in someplace like Bologna, and set up a farm or something and live a peaceful life. Aah that would be heaven! For those who talk of pipe dreams, this one's perhaps a whole goddam irrigation plant dream!! Anyways, there has to be more than just a pleasant voice to make you fall in love with someone head over heels and want to shamelessly, and in fact proudly proclaim in public (atleast to the ch1 public) that you want to marry her and settle down!!

What the hell is it then? Looks?? I don't think so. Character?? I wouldn't know, for I haven't even made friends with her let alone get to know her to pass a judgement about it, but then I am assuming it's as sweet as her voice. Then what the hell is it?? I do not want an answer to that, for that's besides the point, the point being I love her, and the "besides" being WHY I love her.

When she goes "Dhadkan bhi betaab hai" you feel this sensation coursing through your veins. Or rather I feel that way. It's ok if YOU don't feel that way. Coz she's mine anyways, loser! Oh how I wish! :(((

And now my sweetheart's won a national award!!! Congratulations!! Please join me in congratulating her, by showering your wishes as comments here, and make sure to comment on what a cute, sweet, mushy, perfect pair we'd make, smiling in the pictursque photographs of Bologna that I'd show you folks once my dream comes true!!

Now I realize what a gross understatement I have made by calling her voice "pleasant" in the second para! I think I'll make it up to her by buying her some nice pasta!!

Purpose of this post?? Congratulations Shreya! I'll be ever pining hmmpfff!! :(

Happy Diwali :)

2009-10-17T06:54:00.001+05:30

The festival of lights! May it bring immense joy and unbounded happiness in your life! May the universe conspire to make all your dreams come true! Here's wishing you all a wonderful super duper Diwali :)
Love
Vj

Bombay chutney and ARR-acha maavu

2009-10-09T16:13:00.003+05:30

Busy week this one's been. Two days in Bombay(I love to call it that and I’m not Karan Johar, so smartasses please don't correct me that it's Mumbai), and back. Read my first Wodehouse novel, and loved the old world charm, the Brit humour (note the "u") and all that! Planning to read either Catch 22 or To Kill a Mockingbird next… Started Catch 22 long back and never managed to go beyond a few pages. Something tells me I'm gonna like it this time around.

My comp's died on me, and I haven't been able to find the time to get her up and working. Planning to do it tomorrow... Heck what's life without a computer for emotional and moral support!

Speaking of Bombay, I have always loved the city and like it even more now. Though I couldn't extend my stay beyond two days, I enjoyed every minute of it! This city's so lively and two years of my absence seems to have done it a lot of good ;-) The climate was damp, yet welcoming.

Of course, the flights to and fro were as usual dreaded by me. I hate flying. Something about the whole process of subjecting yourself to an aluminium enclosure eleven kilometers above sea level doesn't quite go down well with me and my intestines. And then there's airline food which this time thankfully, I had the option of not buying, since I was flying low cost (supposedly!).

The onward flight was much more turbulent but somehow the thought of touching down at maximum city did some good in alleviating my discomfort. Even before I boarded the return flight, I had a feeling of already being in Chennai, what with the guy behind me pushing me even before the ferry bus’s doors opened, and that maami and her family promptly inventing a double queue at the steps of the plane. With all due respect to civilized Chennaiites and Mumbaikars, we f***in lack patience and courtesy. And deo sprays.

I've been trying to hum Amruthavarshini all day, with a hope to achieve Bombay-like conditions here. With some success I must haughtily say. For it rained in Mambalam when I hummed in Siruseri yesterday! God must've known I live there! Now the rest of blogosphere knows too. Well, may not the rest as in the WHOLE of the REST of blogosphere, but at least this small bunch of blokes reading this rather rummy (I've just read Wodehouse remember??) post know! Today there are clouds hanging over in the distance. Will keep my ardent readers posted on whether they came to my crooning.

And now to all of you who are attending Rahman sir's concert on Sunday. As much as I am jealous of you, since I myself might not make it, I'd like to wish you all the elation and happiness and whatever emotions Rahman sir's music evokes in you. In return for this kindness, I want nothing. Peace out. Have fun! And make sure you guys scream when the MC asks you to scream! After all that's what an artist seeks at the end of the day!! Sore throats! :D. And add my three thousand cheers to yours. Hip Hip Hu(ARR)ay!

I understand the above paragraph to be rather deviant in mood and general writing style from the rest of this post. It's called the ARR syndrome. Typical patients suffer from hyper ventilation, lack of words, or rather, lack of clarity of thought and general restless eagerness to be there at the concert. Now that you know, may the universe conspire to bless you with this syndrome.

Inglourious Basterds STILL hasn't released in Chennai. Much like the time Phone Booth was released around 8 months after I'd seen it in Bombay. Go on. Test our patience. Don't blame the pirates later!

Random One Line Update: Aaj Dil Gustakh Hai rocks!

Random Quote from my Quote Hanger: You can take a horse to the water, but to make it drink, it has to be thirsty.

Random Incomplete line: And then she told Adam, "Oh how I wish you learnt to finish what...

Random Inference: I've been writing a series of "Random" things without the slightest notion why.

Random Inference 2: Looks like I'm trying to find a way to end this post and am stuck in a loop.

Random Note: My brain tells me I've used the word inference twice and using it a third time will make it kind of un-cool. Hence...

Random Conclusion: This post has ended.

Random gibe at you: You still read this line anyway!!

Vidhyaarambham, Vada Paayasam and Karaharapriya

2009-09-28T10:55:00.002+05:30

Don't let the title mislead you into thinking I've had my share of Vada Payasam. Yesterday yes, but not today! Since it's a working day at Cognizant, there was time just to take bath, do some very basic pooja, sing a song "Shaasthrathukku" and rush. Breakfast was Corn Flakes and Milk. And some Kesari and Appam thanks to a good friend who also happens to be part of the thachi mammoo brigade.

So what is it about today that makes it special? For the typical Tambrahm, it's the day our parents forced us into Paatu Class (you may add Keyboard, carnatic of course, violin, mridangam and dance to that list) when we were kids. While for some of us it was a new beginning, for some others it was about the only day they even went to class! I do not remember if my first paattu class started on Vijayadasami day, but I do remember reverentially taking Aashirvadams from my Gurus and saashtaangama sevichufying, Abhivadaye included (My Guru for most part of my learning, Shri.O.V.Subramaniam sir used to crane his ears to listen to what I was saying). Those were good times, singing Mandara Dararey loudly, "Nanna Vaaya vittu paadu" my dad used to say. Perhaps I am getting nostalgic about the days I was properly learning music. sometimes I wish I had continued...I guess I will, when it has to happen.

And this was the day moms were waiting to take revenge on us for having not touched books the previous day. At least one chapter per subject had to be studied. And there would be this feeling what we did today would reflect on what we got in the exams. The harder you studied today, the better. Only, what matters is how hard you study two days before the exam onwards :p

And then there used to be the usual aathu saappadu, which still is, only I'm stuck at office :(
More Kozhambu with Vada in it, Vadai otherwise, saathumudhu (I like it with Vadai in it too :D), Akaaravadasal(yeah "vada" in it, but just the spelling lol), and saving the thachi mammoo for the afternoon. Pretty much the basic menu for any Iyengar festival, with additions depending on the nature of the festival. Oh we have variety and so much don't we??

Had a Karaharapriya hangover, sleeping off last night listening to Madurai Mani Iyer. Quite literally a hangover, for the splitting headache's still there! It didn't help that I was listening this morning to quite a long exploration of Kalyani (if it lasted from Mambalam to Siruseri, I guess it WAS prettylong). The headache won't go till I'm back to bed. Which is unlikely. No mood for vada paayasam either. Somehow can't get out of the weekend mood, hence decided to blog about it. I guess many of you would identify with the current mood. For those who don't, happy working!

Other updates over the weekend include watching Eeram (decent flick), scaring the crap out of the thachi mammoo brigadier mentioned above, post movie, super lunch celebrating 2 years of Cognizance, The Godfather (movie), watching the match slip out of India's hands, as I slipped out of consciousness, Saraswati pooja, going for a comedy(supposedly!) play by the Rebelz theatre group and trying verrrrry hard to laugh, taking revenge on the friend who called me to the play by making him buy snacks, watching Quick Gun Murugan (finally, and nothing great about it).

Have a great week folks!! And a greater weekend! :)

2 years of Cognizance, Tarantino and more...

2009-09-24T14:33:00.000+05:30

Been an eventful few days. Did a show with the Cognizant band Euphony last sunday for charity. Was a grand success and real fun! Had a great choice of songs to sing, including Masakkali, Thai Manney Vanakam, Pehla Nasha, Lukka Chupi and Heal the World. Excellent audience, by far the best Euphony has performed to. Raised a few lakhs with our efforts. Feels good :)

Can't understand all the hype about the decline of One Day Internationals and panic surrounding their revival or extinction. I still feel they rock, and that it's just the corporate bigwigs that want the slam bang T20 to replace ODIs. Every time Sachin scores a century, India rejoices! And what a feeling it was when he did that last week! We must be gifted to have grown up watching this guy play.

Throat's completely hoarse and severe cold's set in, and looks like it'll be a few days before I'll get back to singing. Have quite a few movies to catch up on, Kaminey included. Hope to do this sometime in the coming week.
Realize I've been writing this post in Facebook-Status-Update-Mode. But of course isn't this the world of instant everything?? So why not tweet? Only I everytime I feel like updating my FB status, I end up with extreme loss of ideas and thoughts. Surprisingly, blogging seems to help. Not that I've been doing it too frequently of late.

Among other things, today marks two years of working in Cognizant. Must say it's been a pleasant journey so far :-)
Plan to go out with batchmates this weekend to celebrate. Movie perhaps.

Planning to start a new blog chronicling my musical journey, with samples of stuff I've sung or composed. Would like your opinion on this. This would be sort of a music profile. The intentions, to reach out to the public and get their feedback on my work.

Plan to blog more as well. That's been the plan every time I've blogged. To make the next post come earlier. But I guess the universe has its own way of making things happen and not happen. We're just canoes drifting along the current aren't we?

Have a great movie suggestion to end this post with: Watch out for Inglorious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino. Don't know if it'll release here in India, but the movie's a masterpiece. Of course strictly for Noir and Tarantino fans. If you're the types that sobs on Karan Johar's foren scenery cotton candy, this one's blasphemy. Have a great life you folks! Like a bloggger I know oft puts it , may the universe do whatever it is to make whatever it is that's to happen happen and whatever shouldn't, not to. Of course that blogger never said these exact words, in fact perhaps just the word "universe", but life's about confusing the senses out of people isn't it ? ;-)

19-B

2009-08-13T15:36:00.001+05:30

8.10- 9.00 AM
As usual, I've missed my office bus today… but only by 5 minutes. Those who know me well will realize I've made quite some progress, for I was actually CLOSE to catching the bus on time!

So here I am, seated in the 19B ac bus. It's a miracle I’ve got a seat today. No eye candy today. It's not Friday yet. But then Friday has its own woes, with companies giving people freedom to dress in casuals. I bet a lot of men and sane women would agree with me when I say this freedom is utterly misused. They should call them Friday casualties instead. What else can you call a pink-playboy-bunny-printed-tee-with-oily-hair-mallipoo-and-utterly-matchless –jean(wonder why they miss out on the ‘s’) combo!?

So I take out my mp3 player, and curse myself for stuffing it with classical music the previous night. I switch to fm, and poof! No charge. Fortunately (unfortunately I realize later), the bus has a radio set. Popular appaalam friends, traffic updates, a very important debate about the need for a gents coach in ladies-only trains (with of course a lot of female callers vehemently opposing the idea), and some unimpressive songs… The weather is super outside; not sunny but bright enough. Which gets me thinking...

There’s this wonderful thing about Facebook. All you need is a mobile phone to unleash your inner creativity upon hapless visitors to your profile. And what better way to welcome them, but with a thathuvam?? :D Hence my status now reads: Nice weather...To look at... from inside an air conditioned bus. No idea how it actually feels the other side of the window, though everything's in plain sight to see. Much like the opinions we form of others isn't it?:)

And then I notice the masks. Is that why I missed the eye candy? Err…certainly not. In fact I am grateful the masks are on in some cases. Swine flu everywhere! And it spreads through air, water and land they say! Everyone’s paranoid! I’m just glad it doesn’t spread through blogs! What’s that bad smell?? No we aren’t even near the other “informed” IT Company beyond Sholinganallur yet. That’s the area which consistently stinks when the bus passes through it. I mean, it’s been that way since my training days at Siruseri! Bottomline (no pun intended): People should watch what they eat for breakfast! At least when they decide to travel by ac bus and sit next to me! Now I wish I had a mask too. Who cares if Swine flu doesn’t spread through potatoes or whatever! Bad smell does!

And I get second time lucky today. Now, seated three rows ahead of the putrescence and a Rahman song playing on radio, I’m kind of relieved. Just about ten minutes to go. A close friend from the US has commented on the thathuvam. And thanks to that wonderful feature in Facebook I mentioned earlier, the update comes instantly to my mobile. My friend asks me if I’ve had love failure or something. I’m tempted to reply it’s more of a failure of common sense, a failure of the ability of people to realize love never fails; it’s us humans who resign to fate and declare ourselves victims of deceit, betrayal and other dark things. Ask the guy who loved every beautiful woman he saw, and he’ll tell you love never fails. For you have to fall into it, to drown. Those who go in with floats have all the fun ;-)

But I take pity on my dear friend’s lonely plight, and decide against subjecting him to another of my abominations in reply. I decide then and there, for no apparent reason that today I shall blog about this. Like I’ve ever blogged with a reason... Time to get down... And as usual, I have succeeded in blogging about a drab journey to office, as if it were the next big thing to happen after Jacko’s death! (no offence meant to Jacko fans, I’m one myself). You folks have a wonderful day at office, or home, or wherever you are! I’m getting back to work. This one’s done n dusted. Keep the comments flowing even if the thoughts aren’t! ;)

The Ooh La La La album and the gig afterwards

2009-08-04T22:19:00.005+05:30

Folks here's an interesting update! What started 2 years ago is finally taking shape. The Ooh La La La album is seeing the light of the day (refer earlier posts for further details about the show :) ) 6 bands, 6 songs, one album. Released by none other than my all time inspiration, A.R.Rahman!! Me is so excited!

My band Srishti features in this album, and our song is called Ondrai Seruvom.
We will also be doing a promotional gig at City Center on Sunday the 9th of August. Do watch this space for more updates!

Puthu Yugam- Album

2009-07-14T12:14:00.002+05:30

Have sung in an album by this enthusiastic bunch who call themselves Team Radiance. Ajesh features too. The Album titled "Puthu Yugam" was launched on July 12th. Unfortunately was out of town and couldn't make it to the release function. Wishing this team all the very best for this album to be a huge success.Check out their blog, to know more about this album.

http://www.teamradiance.blogspot.com/

And do buy it and encourage them :)

Short notice :)

2009-07-06T10:15:00.000+05:30

Been a really long time since I've blogged. Have been held up with loads of work at office. No time to blog :( I've seen most of the comments, and shall reply soon. I am also thinking of putting up some music on the blog. When time permits ie. Always feels good to get public feedback. Apologies to all followers of this blog to post so late and short. It feels great to know people read what I write, and I'm thankful to everyone of you.

The finale

2009-06-03T12:48:00.002+05:30

Just a quick update. One year of effort is finally going to culminate into one person bagging the coveted "Super Singer". Make sure you cheer loudest for your favourite contestant. May the best person win!
Catch the grand finale live at 6.30 PM on Vijay TV or be there if you're lucky to have passes. There's so much excitement among the crew, contestants et al. Finally, the one big day everyone's been waiting for! Leaving now for rehearsals. Shall update once it's all over:) All the very best to the contestants!

The elimination

2009-05-25T23:18:00.003+05:30

This post isn't intended to hurt the sentiments of audiences. It is purely intended to convey that a grave mistake has happened. Earlier, there had been an outrage on a social networking site, when I spoke in support of a contestant who was constantly being abused in forums and blogs. What did I get in reply? Hundreds of comments threatening me that the audience is the most important aspect of a show and without them, nothing can happen and that I have no right to blame them for character assassination. Agreed the audience is important. I am part of the audience too. But why is it that some of us tend to leave sanity behind and look for cheap thrills and entertainment when the focus in a music show should be on music?

At a crucial stage in the competition, Ranjani has been eliminated, thanks to audience votes. I reiterate what the judges said here: The audience has made a mistake… a grave one. By ending her run in the show. Considering she was among the top two in the first round of the finals... And was the pick of the judges in the wild card round as well! One of the most versatile, boldest singers in this competition, who chose really tough songs, just to prove her critics wrong. And what did the audience do? Slap themselves on the face by eliminating her. I am sure anyone who is even remotely connected with music would realize the futility of trying so hard and yet losing out because the "masses" weren't convinced.

Sometimes I wonder what makes the audience vote someone out of a contest. Is it because they're accustomed to the age old notion that a heavy-bassy voice is a good male voice and a shrill, shreaky voice is a pleasant female voice? And that anything different from this is enjoyed, yet shrugged off when it comes to deciding? Is it because some dare to be different from mainstream "melodies" or "kuthu"s and explore other genres? Maybe because a lot of people think replicating the song as it is, and imitating the original is a feat worthy of votes, while absorbing a song's nuances and adding it a personal touch is considered

over-ambitious?

I guess it takes more than just good singing to impress an audience. In fact, it doesn't even need good singing, considering Ranjani has been one of the most consistent performers. And by performer, I mean singer. After all, this is a freakin singing competition!! I suppose a contestant not only needs to know what to sing, but also what to speak in front of the camera. It doesn't matter if it's from the heart or not. The audiences watching TV can't see your heart. They'll believe anything you say. After all TV is about histrionics!

We were all shocked at the elimination, and I've been waiting for the episode to be telecast, so I could blog about this. Most of the contestants have expressed a deep regret over this atrocious decision. Some almost in tears, some, just frustrated to no end. Of course there were some others who took this to their advantage and "expressed their deep sympathy by attributing their emoasional singing to Ranjani's elimination" and made it a point to say it in front of the camera. After all, projecting yourself as a do-gooder in times of crisis will win you votes won't it!

I am sure many of you, as viewers of the show, will take exception to my comments, because you may be intelligent viewers, and know that this shouldn't have happened. This post isn't aimed at you. It is aimed at educating the other majority- who get convinced by posters on transformer boxes and railway station walls, by histrionics and pretence, by looks, by preconcieved notions about music and voice- and sadly, forget that good music is above all of this. You may raise a point here, that the show is to entertain, so why am I asking you to concentrate on the music. The answer is, if you're looking for entertainment, go watch a movie. This is a music show. Enjoy the music, and vote for the music. Finally, I repeat what I said on the day Ranjani was eliminated (and which didn't make it to the telecast I am told): You may have broken contestants' run in the competition, but you cannot break the singer that's in them, the music that's in them. Good music will prevail, and all else will be forgotten in due time!

Super Singer

2009-05-12T22:19:00.003+05:30

My run in super singer finally ended with the second wild card round. And what an experience it’s been! It was total fun, and though I’m out of the show, the people I’ve met there, the friends made, and the wonderful experiences that I’ve had will be things I’ll always cherish. Thank you for your votes and the tremendous support! . Of course the way forward is going to be something to think about.

The best part of Supersinger is the camaraderie that’s developed between contestants. The atmosphere has never been one of tension or jealousy. Of course we all have our favourites but that doesn’t mean the others aren’t congenial. Then again, everyone from the judges, to the anchors, Chinmayi and later Yugendran and Malini, the crew and the production team has been really supportive and nice throughout the contest. Beyond what goes on camera, the vibes have always been good, contrary to the notion that in television and movies, friendships do not last. Ok now I’m getting all candyflossy with this post. No I do not want to write the script for Karan Johar’s next flick!

Super Singer’s definitely changed my life. From one among the crowd to one recognized to an extent by it. It’s been a combination of effort, luck and opportunity. And I must thank all the reasons that’ve made things happen or not happen. Of course, there have been ups and downs as far as the competition is concerned, but then that’s life isn’t it?? When you’re up, you get to realize how deep it is down there, and when you’re down, well…just get out of it!!

Another interesting aspect of this show has been the forums. All you need is internet access and a personal opinion though I strongly feel more people have the former than the latter. There have been so many genuine well-wishers and critics. Every contestant should be grateful to these people, whether or not they have interacted with them. THEY are the audience.

Coming to the other kind of people who post in forums. This is the part which I like most about the forums. The extreme supporters and haters. Give a dumb man fish, he’ll eat for a day, give him an internet connection, and he’ll make sure he’s heard by hook or crook. Unfortunately you can’t throw shoes online (and this is an interesting concept for an office flash game ain’t it??). So what do you do?? Diss about anybody and everybody in all the bad English and foul language you know!! And spread rumours. There’ve been times when we’ve laughed our behinds off reading absolutely hilarious ones.

There was this one about a contestant singing badly and that the producers got pissed and got the special judge that day to dub for the contestant so they could air that!! But my pick is one I was the butt of. There was a tie breaker and there was a grasping test wherein we were told to sing a Malayalam song. Some imaginative bloke out there posts that I already knew the song beforehand and the language too!! Oh how I wish I knew Malayalam J Of course the number of people who believed the rumour were more than the number of episodes the show’s completed so far!! :D

All this is part and parcel of reality television we are told. And the only rule here is, never let them get you! It’s anyone’s general tendency to get infuriated when they hear crap being said about them without their knowledge. The trick is to enjoy the stories that float around. Let people have their share of fun at your expense. And you have fun laughing at how twisted the human mind can get

So finally, a non-random post with a lot of Random stuff about super singer. Been a hectic two weeks at office, and wanted to show signs of life. Hence this post. Happy getting-back-to-work now that you’re done reading it

PS: The latest buzz is that I provoked someone into getting emotional and excited on cam! I love this one :D Let’s see how many twists this tale takes. What you see on camera is what I am. I shall reach out to the last man on earth to make my music heard, but before that, I need a super fast jet and a list of all the men on earth. If my music has reached you *with a reverent bow and a solemn countenance* don’t vote for me. I’m out of the competition already :D

PPS: This post isn’t intended to cause any emotional trauma or provoke any being living or singing. The views expressed here are purely mine, and I don’t intend changing them to suit any camera, rolling or unrolling :D

What music means to me...

2009-04-21T21:34:00.003+05:30

I have been part of Airtel Super Singer 2008 for quite some time now. And currently I’m in a stage where I need the support of the public to take me through to the grand finale. At this juncture, I ask myself how it all started. Not the show… Music as such.

I guess it’s always been there with me. Now going on to say “Music is in my blood” would be preposterous. I wouldn’t want someone out there waiting to stab me to listen to my music ;-) Singing is my passion. Yes, I do a bit of composing too, but singing is my first love! There have been expectations throughout the show…From the audiences, from the judges, and from myself. Every round has been a challenge, and there have been many highs and lows.

At the end of it all, what remains is the fact that I have been singing. Whether on a reality show on tv, or at home or elsewhere, this has been the constant activity. And without liking what we do, it would be impossible to achieve anything. I love singing. I guess I am one of the really lucky few in the world to be able to sing and have an audience listening too. However, there is a long long way to go, before I can call myself a singer. There are miles to cover, and yet, the destination will remain distant. For, the art is greater than the artist.

Music, to me means life. Every emotion I have experienced, every moment I have lived, I can associate distinctly with a song or a tune that went in my head. Music makes me nostalgic, it brings ecstasy, it brings energy, and it brings tears. Airtel Super Singer has been a platform to let people identify with the influence music has had on me, and to share with them, my musical ideas, and capabilities. It has been a blessing that made me entertain thousands. I may not be someone’s favourite, for we all have our likes and dislikes. But the very fact that people have taken notice, and I have been presented an opportunity to reach out to them through this show, brings me immense happiness.

And as an aspiring singer, all I have at the moment is gratitude… to all those who have encouraged me throughout this show, directly or indirectly, to all those who have criticized me, for it has made me learn from my mistakes, and to all the other viewers of the show. It is the public that makes or breaks an artist. And an artist is ever indebted to them, for recognition and fame are an outcome of more than just luck and talent.

I sincerely hope to fulfill the expectations you as viewers of the show have of me, and in the process, realize my dreams of becoming an established singer in the industry. I hope you have enjoyed my performances in the past and like my performances in the Wild Card round currently being aired (Monday, 20^th April to Wednesday, 22^nd April). If you like my performances and feel I deserve to enter the finals, please do vote for me, either by typing “SS18” on your mobile phones and sending to 57827 or by logging on to http://vijay.indya.com/supersinger08/index.asp. Whether or not I make it to the finals of this show, I would still be ever grateful to all the audiences for encouraging the show and watching it. And I shall keep the music coming.

In the learning curve...

2009-03-27T23:43:00.003+05:30

Things i've learn over the past few days of life:

When you set out to not do something, you end up doing it better than you would've done, had you set out doing it.

Everybody has a right to opine on something. Even if they have no idea what it is.

Most of the things we claim to know for “fact” are our very own personal opinions, which, when in tandem with the opinions of few others, we make ourselves believe are facts.

Half-baked information is the worst thing for others to have, and the best weapon to use, if you want to screw somebody’s reputation.

Amusement lies at the heart of watching other people spread wrong information about yourself and watching it spiral out of the realms of sanity.

Someday if I become famous, a hundred years later, ordinary sentences written in my blog might make it to igoogle’s “quote of the day”

And in case the above happens, here’s one I’d personally like to go down as a quote- don’t quote me, I ain’t old enough yet

People can be easily fooled. All it takes is a little patience and a lot of television

Singing is my passion, singing to the tune of people around isn’t.

Life was a lot better before blogs and internet. At least Tom, Dick and Harry stuck to spreading crap by word of mouth alone.

They keyboard is mightier than the pen( Dn mind teh typos)

Everything you read online isn’t true. Heck, most of it isn’t!

Things I’d love to learn in the future:

Malayalam

How to form opinions and be sure they’re wrong and still stick to them

The fastest way to commute between Siruseri and T nagar without owning a car

Who is it that controls the universe. I mean heck we all think we’re in control of our lives till it spirals out of control. There HAS to be someone out there to get us!

Why we tend to be easily fooled by majority, when the chances of the majority being a bunch of fools is higher

How not to get repetitive while blogging

How to make this post longer than it is

Cheering for Rahman Sir!! Jai Ho!!!!

2009-03-01T22:42:00.002+05:30

Finally, my bit done for Rahman sir's winning the Oscars. Got to scream my lungs out on TV :)
It was real fun, teaming up with some hardcore ARR buffs and cheering for him from the heart!! And to top it all, Vijay Tv came home and shot all of it (was aired today at 8 O clock in "Ella Pugazhum Oruvanukkey"). We crooned Jai Ho, Thai Manney Vanakkam and other incoherent babble in the name of cheering!! But yay!! It was pure ecstacy. My heartfelt thanks to Vijay Tv for giving us this opportunity to cheer for Mr.Awe-sc-ARR!! Also thanks to the bunch of hooligans who were willing enough to come home and contributed to the fun!! Here's the list of attendees, credited in no particular order :D
Mom
Sathya (guitarist she calls herself;))
A.M.Aravind (This guy sure is one idol for fans, on how to be a fan)
Sandhya
Manasa
Mahati
Ravikiran (Offile le aapu thaan di itha padichanga naa ;))
Santhosh (Terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :D)
Madhu (Stephen Devassy's self proclaimed sister ;) )
And whoever it is that I bought that lovely ARR T-shirt from :D

So, finally, I get to blog about this. And no, I'm not gonna end this post with "Jai Ho". Millions of newspapers and clippings and reports have ended with it. I'm just gonna say..."Congratulations ARR Sir!!! Two Oscars a year is a good rate!! Keep the momentum going, till recession hits the academy hard and they start making plastic statuettes so that they can keep giving you loads of them) :D

Dilli 6 and Connections!

2009-01-23T14:26:00.002+05:30

What a way to start the new year! Two albums by Rahman sir!! I'm at office, having some time to sneak in a quick review of both. I've listened to the albums probably 5 times in all, so the opinions here maybe self-contradicted after a few weeks of repeated listening! I don't know what's spurring me to write this...it's maybe the fact that Rahman sir got 3 Oscar nominations just about 12 hours ago! :)

Dilli 6:
The Aarti song is non-intrusive, I guess Ik Onkar's counterpart in this movie. The tune is repetitive, probably traditional. Nothing much to say. Pleasant. Hey Kala Bandar and the title track are straight out of Rahman sir's current trend of punchy synth driven numbers, with top notch programming. The monkey voice in Kala Bander is a clincher! Then come the two classical numbers, Arziyan and Bhor Bhaye. Arziyan is a dream vocal combo, with Kailash Kher and Javed Ali's voices supporting each other beautifully. Shades of Sakhiye Nee thaan thunaiye (the line "aathavan ponaal ahal thaan oliyae") emerge now and then, but on the whole, the 8 minute plus song is a treat. Bhor Bhaye combines an old record of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan interspersed beautifully with Shreya Ghoshal's voice, and is again a traditional composition I believe. I'm not qualified to comment about BGAK's singing. As far as Shreya's singing goes, she almost does complete justice. Dil Gira is yet to sink in completely, and I think it will take a lot of time, given the absolutely unconventional structure, the vocal usage and the overall tune...As of now, it sounds like one of those songs that'll grow on to become all time favorites. Genda Phool is again a fun song, that takes you by surprise with its groovy arrangements amidst folksy singing, and that "bow bow" bass synth only adds to the fun element in the song! Rahman sir's singing in Raina Tu is absolutely out of the world, and the arrangements, the carnatic postlude played on the continuum fingerboard and everything else I've forgotten to mention about this song, are mindblowing! And to top it all comes Masakkali, that hits the bulls eye the first time you hear it, and then leaves the bull blinded by its brilliance. The latin feel, the harmonica solo, the rhythm, and top notch singing by Mohit Chauhan are if anything, assurance that Rahman sir deserves every accolade he's getting, and is growing big time in our hearts! Noor is a recital by Amitabh Bachchan, with nothing much to comment about musically. Overall, Dilli 6 I would currently place above Slumdog or Ghajini, commercial, classy and A.R.Rahman written, err painted all over it!

Coming to connections, Jiya Se Jiya was a let down of sorts from the time the tv promos were aired, and it wasn't all that pleasant a surprise to hear a non-arr-sung version. It's a good song to listen to, but hasn't yet assumed greatness. The three flute pieces categorized as Silent Invocations 1,2 and 3 explore various raagaas. They are good to listen to. But then, they are like any other lounge album pieces. I guess the names of the pieces explain the lack of excited flourishes one expects when there's flute in Rahman sir's songs! Mylapore Blues is brilliant, with its jazz arrangements set to an Indian Rhythm. Himalayas is again an experimental piece, more on the lines of Yanni (note: this isn't a plagiarism accusation, it's a reference to the genre the song is set in). Mosquito is again creativity at its pinnacle, with the Saarangi playing the mosquito's role. Rahman sir, we're suffering from this musical malaria thanks to you :) (How cheesy, but couldn't help ;) ) Mann Chandre instantly took me to Man Mohana and Piya Ho. This is yet another brilliant piece, probably the best in the album. The uncredited female vocals and Sukhwinder's feel touch the heart! Overall, a decent album, with best effect when heard without expectations (considering it's come from the man who gave us Vande Mataram).

To sum up, a musical journey has begun with the new year, and the beginning couldn't have been better! Hope this journey continues endlessly. And a silent prayer for Rahman sir to win the Oscars!!
Peace!
:)

Indian Actresses and their not-so-Indian Secrets!!!

2009-01-20T20:29:00.002+05:30

What does one blog about when one has nothing to blog about?? You may ask, why blog at all if there's nothing. Well, because there's nothing else to do but blog about something. So what is it that I'm blogging about? If you haven't figured yet, I suggest you take up a course in Java fundamentals. Why Java fundamentals? Because at the end of it, I would’ve still blogged about absolutely nothing but you’d be richer intellectually. Not that knowing the fundamentals of Java is going to win you a Nobel nomination. But at least I'd savour the satisfaction of having contributed my two cents to social welfare, by inspiring an educational urge in people through my blog.

Now I realize I've used the term "two cents" in my previous paragraph. Aah American currency. What IS it about the Americans that we take a fascination for? Why didn't I say "two rupees"? To be honest, it didn't occur to me to say two rupees" and it's probably because I've read the term "two cents" somewhere that I’ve used it here unconsciously. Now like every other swadesi, I want to write about the Indian fascination for "foren" stuff and the "yo!" feeling one has when showing off a "foren" product. A mechanical sleep-coffee-travel-coffee-sleep routine has done little to propel my thinking cells to type anything cohesive on that topic and project my opinion on it. And I realize I'm fumbling for words, opinions and also the urge to stick to one topic and at least think about it, leave alone write. I guess it’s what they call attention deficit disorder.

I haven't seen the Hindi version of Ghajini yet. I haven't seen the Tamil version either. Didn't feel like, after watching Memento. Point is not that. It is the short term memory loss concept. Imagine someone having short term memory loss and attention deficit disorder combined. Should be fun to wake up, read the newspaper and find out Obama's president, celebrate, then ask who Obama is, only to wake up again and read the newspaper again and celebrate again!! Life would be a lot more exciting living it this way! At least we'd live for the moment!

Three paragraphs into this post and I still haven't made sense. I'm reminded most of my posts are this way, and people are going to end up concluding this is my style of writing, and that my posts are all similarly random. Now that I’ve made this statement, I can't help thinking I'm writing as if I have a huge blog following and I'm oh so concerned about what the "public" is going to think about the stuff I write! It's good to assume things we don't know for sure, isn't it?? Especially when they give us a sense of "feel good"? It's definitely better than others telling us facts that we don't want to know. Or telling us their assumptions about us, and claiming they're facts!

I think I have a flair for confusing (read confused) writing. I'm proud of it (again I've assumed the flair part, so that "pride" being a good feeling, I can feel good). This is one of those afternoons when the mind is completely disoriented, the eyelids are completely in love with gravity and the stomach is playing vacuum cleaner. The ac is so cold, my fingers would freeze without constant activity. Typing seems to help. If you've read till here, then I thank you for your patience or perseverance or idleness or tolerance whatever you want to call it. Happy doing-whatever-it-is-that-you-are-doing. Keep doing it. God Bless!

PS: If you haven't realized yet that the title was a dirty trick to get you reading this post, take up that Java course mentioned in paragraph one I think…

Raindrops

2008-11-27T15:40:00.001+05:30

I wake up to mom warning my sister she’d not wake her up again and that she was already late for school. My eyes are screaming to stay shut, while my feet drag themselves lazily to the wash basin. The gloomy weather outside only furthers the temptation to go back to bed. A coffee and a bath later, I’m all set for the day. I walk down to the gate only to realize I can’t walk further. The road is completely inundated, and there’s no way I’m spoiling my shoes walking in the dirty water.

“No school today!”, mom announces and I wake up with a jolt. Genuine happiness or relief or whatever emotion you may choose to call it, surges through me, in perfect harmony with the steady sound of the pouring Bombay rain. Here comes Complan! As I savour the newly introduced coffee flavoured drink, I switch on the television. What better way to start a day than sip your favourite drink watching Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel! The “new millennium” being around the corner is the buzzword everywhere, and I haven’t found it immature yet to stop watching Cartoon Network. I don’t think I will ever.

The railway station is a hundred meters away, yet I will never make it without my socks getting completely soaked. Wet socks and air-conditioning (they make sure its on at all the wrong times) make a deadly combination. The last thing I want is turning the routine fake smiles into genuine twitches of disgust. Ten bucks to an auto driver and I am at the moderately long queue, waiting to buy my return ticket. And today is one of those rare occasions in a human being’s life… I haven’t taken my mobile phone with me.

It’s been just a week since the new cycle came. My excitement hasn’t yet died down, and after about half an hour of cartoons, I put on my raincoat and step outside. Mom’s repeated “be careful”s are kind of irritating, but she’s only concerned. The sound of big rain drops hitting the rain-cap is music to my ears. I get on my cycle and pedal fast, the raindrops hitting me with more force the faster I pedal. The road’s more or less empty and I sing out loud even as I realize there wouldn’t be a point trying to slow down, and that even if I did, there was no way the brakes would cooperate. I’m singing louder. I smile.

I buy a newspaper for company. Half an hour of travel in a relatively empty train without a mobile phone can be mentally distressing. The train arrives. I board, get a window seat, the side where water wouldn’t spray even if it rained outside. Half an hour in that seat, ten minutes of reading the newspaper and twenty minutes of getting bored of the newspaper, sitting idle, and the journey itself. Twenty minutes I could’ve used thinking of something constructive, maybe a poem, maybe philosophizing where life was heading, maybe asking myself questions about the things that needed attention in life. None. I spend twenty minutes thinking about absolutely nothing. I know it’s impossible to think about nothing, but a bunch of incoherent random thoughts amounts to more or less the same. I get down and get to office, something routine, the only change today being, I hold an umbrella over my head all the way.

I stop pedaling, and eventually come to a halt. I remove my raincoat, for it makes no sense anyway in this downpour. Might as well get completely drenched for I haven’t taken bath yet. Cycling without a raincoat is a far better experience, for I can pedal faster, I feel lighter, and its way more thrilling! And now I have a friend for company too. He’s bunked school, while I wonder how his school even thought of working today. Today isn’t the day to talk about Lucky Ali’s latest song or the World Cup that’s just ended. It’s time to race in the rain!!

I’m sipping coffee two hours into work. The coffee isn't quite the same as what mom makes. But it’s at least better than having none at all. The rain hasn’t let up yet. I watch through the glass window, five floors below, a kid on the road chasing another. There are smiles on their faces, and I’m sure laughter too, though I can’t hear it from where I am. Rain drops create blurred moulds on the window glass, cleaning it of any dirt there might be as they drip. I wish it rained on the mind too…cleansing it of dirt, confusion and every speck of negativity, making it clear and transparent as the window glass. The air conditioning is on, and it’s cold. I wonder if it’s as cool outside too. I would have to go outside to find out. And there’s work…

Super Whiner!

2008-08-12T18:59:00.002+05:30

Scene 1:

Buzz!! He sees the green light. He is excited. The jugdes say something about his rendition being good. All he cares about is he's through to the next round.

Happily gets his green colored certificate (they call it ticket, he learns later), and rushes out of the make-shift room with black cloth walls, waiting to announce his victory to his friends and foklks at home.

"Sir sir, konjam nillunga..pinnaadi ponga sir… thiruppi athe maathiri excited a odi vaanga sir, camera la seriya edukkala ungala"

Scene 2:

He goes onstage again. Notices one of the judges is kinda cute.

"Neenga romba cute a nadanthu vantheenga. Enna paada poreenga?" (Murphy's law had to work!! The other nowhere-close-to-cute judge speaks)

He's tempted to say "shoe la mannu pugunthuruchu athaan…"

Song 1: Buzz!! The disc on which he's standing glows the kind of green he associates disticntly with this look one of his schoolmates used to give him when he scored a mark or two higher than the latter.

"Romba nalla paadineenga. Nejamaave gramathula irukkara oru feeling… … …"

Song 2: "Uyire…uyire…" He knows he's offkey, and desperately wants to spit out that irritating whatever in his throat, but what with cameras around (oh he feels like a star doesn't he!), the SHOW MUST GO ON"…
Buzz!! Red.

"You have been waitlisted"

Scene 3:

She watches in eager anticipation, as they've shown her brother in the initial rushes of the episode!! He's sitting right next to her. Mom's gone out.

"Hey nee da!!"

"Enna paada poreenga?" asks the judge.

Wait a minute! Did she just hear the judge say the word "cute"? She was beginning to giggle looking at the constipated reaction her brother gave on television.

"Uyire…" Buzz. Red.

Scene 4:

"Enna machi red light adishtaanga!! Select aitta nu sonnai!"

"Ama da, select aitten. Waitlist aanen. First song ku green buzzer, athu tv la podala"

"Etho solra po…"

"Dei nejama da!" :-(

Scene 5:

"Amma sodhapittaa maa"

"Athukku thaan sonnen intha super whiner , lottu losku laam vendaam nu. Ozhungu mariyathaiya mela padikkara vazhiaya paaru. Thuni machine la poda sonnen illa…"

Meanwhile on tv: Ivanga irandu perum sagotharargal. Oruthar select aagi vittar, ivar aavara?? Break.

Subject is in a high state of embarrassment, with consolation msgs and calls coming up, despite his replying that he's thru to the next and the next round"

And they call this reality television!!! :-(

Sunday Afternoon

2008-05-18T14:31:00.013+05:30

It tasted tangy with just the right amount of sweetness. Wiping beads of sweat that trickled down his forehead, the little boy sat down on one of the stone benches along the pavement. The sun was beating down hard, and glass of the lemon sharbat he was selling, was refreshing. Business had been good today. Cricket fever had quite a few Marina beach regulars battling it out in the heat. And their battle was his victory. Someday I'll set up a shop here...with a/c... And then open a branch in Beasant Nagar beach too... if only father worked... i wouldn't have to wait so long... its so hot! I'll have another glass of juice...just one more...after all business has been good today.

*************

He felt totally out of place here. Yes she was a good friend, and the ones with her were pretty friendly too. But 40 bucks for a hot coffee??!! (the cold ones were way too costly for his conscience) ! This wasn't exactly what he had in mind when she invited him to "hang out" with her gang...its just once... and i need friends... when in Rome... The coffee arrived. It wasn't as hot as the filter coffee he woke up to every morning. It had some foam floating on it. He couldn't help noticing the dark mound of chocolate, whipped cream and ice-cream floating on a glass of what looked like ice-cold Boost, even as one of the guys in the group dug into it with a long spoon. Someday when i'm earning, i'll celebrate my birthday here... The conversation went from IPL to plans for the next weekend. They asked him if he was free. They were going for a movie.
"Oh no i might go out of town with parents..."

*************

One of the few days when he had absolutely nothing to do. The recording was over and the next big thing on his schedule, was an award function the following friday. He had switched off the lights in the room, the only illumination coming from the dots of blue and green on the mixing console. Reclining on one of the bean bags that littered his studio, which was his home as well, he closed his eyes. For a moment, his mind went blank. And then thought by thought came trickling in. The first time his fingers touched the keyboard... his father smiling at him from the recording booth after he had just finished playing a Bach piece during one of the breaks... that was all he remembered of his father... his mentor scolding him for turning up late, threatening to chuck him out of the job... coming back home to learn that his sister had won a competition in school... the big show... the pilgrimage... the film offer... the international recognition... he said a silent prayer, even as a solitary tear made its way down his cheek...
"Daddy daddy I'm able to play twinkle twinkle little star on this keyboard! You want to hear it??"

*************

She sat in the air-conditioned hall, switching between TV channels aimlessly. This time next year she would be in the U.S. Happily settled , away from the madness that was here. Away from all this heat! So what if it was going to be the same monotony of writing code? She'd at least be writing code in a country she always thought she should've been born in. A country which was worth living life in. She'd have the luxuries she had always grown up with, and more! And a companion to share them with too! Life couldn't be better. If only this summer ended soon...

The recent past...

2008-05-13T22:02:00.002+05:30

Been quite some time since I've updated the blog. Speaking of time, or the times rather, they've been pretty testing haven't they? But of course, an automation tester IS expected to spend his time testing… but little do we realize that in the long run, it's time that tests!!! :-)

Quite a lot of things have happened lately. Deliverables, deadlines, pressure…continuous practice during weekends for a show by Euphony, which culminated in some 8 lakhs being raised for charity… And even as the slogging continued the next week, there was news of a cyclone killing thousands in Myanmar… yesterday an earthquake killed another few thousands in China…

Its convenient to have news coming to your desktop. Keeps you updated on whats happening around. So when something like an earthquake hitting china pops up on the Reuters' webpage, with a pic or two showing the debris around, it takes your mind off the stress of work, and helps you relax with an sympathetic nod and if you are weakhearted enough, a "tch tch tch" maybe.
But on questioning myself, I realize there's really nothing more I could possible do than sympathize with the victims. Am I supposed to feel bad all day and shed tears? I wouldn't try faking.

It all boils down to this- unless you matter to somebody, you are not given a damn about! And vice versa… its not cold-heartedness. Its human nature. I'd rather spend time hanging out with people I love, and try finishing off work in time, so that I can leave on time, than spend time discussing the earthquake. But even as I say this, I realize I've been blogging about this very earthquake all this time, and you're probably calling me hypocrite(and it also dawns on me this moment, that I'm not giving enough importance to the cyclone, which infact was the bigger killer! Its just that I'm lazy to mention both everytime :-P )!

What sense does this post make? I don't know! I don't care! There are a lot of things that don't make sense, yet we live with them! And for Francois Truffaut's sake, its my freakin life, and my freakin blog!! I write what I want to!!

The block...

2008-01-28T18:14:00.000+05:30

I've always been told to try my hand at writing. Its another thing that I have one of the most illegible handwritings you would've ever seen. But hey, I don't have to worry about that now. I get to legally use someone else's version of the alphabets, standardized into what we call fonts. Not to sound archaic, I have been using these for pretty long, filling up an insignificant speck of cyberspace allotted to me "free of cost" under the name of blogs.

To say I'm suffering from a writer's block would be gross injustice to the word "writer", but lets just say my gray cells aren't gray enough to help me put thoughts into words, and words into bytes. These days I find myself in front of the computer screen during most of my waking hours, apart from the multitude of "activities" such as eating, drinking coffee, traveling back home, eating, drinking tea, traveling to work etc, that keep me occupied. Isn't that what we are meant to do? Work, feed our families, keep our loved ones happy, keep ourselves happy, and lead a successful life??

Of course isn’t it impossible that our families aren't happy because we aren't spending enough time with them, that we are living to work rather than working to live, and that we make ourselves believe we are successful and happy, and that this is what we must be doing, since there are so many others around us who are doing the same thing!

Life was a lot better when we were kids wasn’t it?? I bet every twenty-plus nobody’s felt that way at some point of time or the other. Those who haven’t, are the lucky ones living in their own worlds, in mental asylums around the world. As for the rest of us, the make-believers as I like to call the lot, all we can do is coin terms such as “mature”, “sane”, “responsible” and the likes and take pride in calling ourselves and each other by these names. But we still like to wish we were kids again…

Childhood, where all the brain had to do was think about how you could ride that cotton candy cloud wherever you wanted to go, pick up friends on the way, sing that catchy rhyme, and ride into the sunset. When the most serious problem in life was finishing off that chocolate bar before your friend did, so you’d still have some left while he didn’t! When fights were resolved by a simple complaint to the parents, and a “sorry” which nobody meant, but still made things easier! When lying was a crime and poems had rhyme (couldn’t resist that one) !

When we were kids, we weren’t unspoilt. Some of us were pampered with more that what we asked for, some of us lacked manners, and some of us were spoiled by being confined to our homes doing homework. But we were definitely happier… for the sheer ignorance of what lay ahead for us in life, was bliss! Responsibility was a word beyond comprehension, and proverbs were things that would come true by repeating in chorus ten times!

My gray cells are still not gray enough, and the way it looks, my hair cells are going to beat them to it! This write up has already started sounding like just another of those forwards doing the rounds in offices! Forwards…about the only things that remind us there is a world outside of our cubicles, and that for some of us, it is that world which has life in it. A world in which our wishes and desires have been stacked away safely. A world where we could chase dreams and live them too!

" In the spirit of the game "

2008-01-10T22:34:00.000+05:30

Dear Mr.Ponting,

It was some spectacle watching you on the ground, captaining your "Champion" side! I used to loathe your game, and every time a commentator of mediocre cricketing intellect compared you with greats like Sachin Tendulkar, my blood used to boil. Having said that, I am no cricket expert, but I can certainly tell a player with technique, from one without any. Of course, there are a lot of other things I cannot distinguish between, like a player with "integrity" from a player without any. However, after yesterday's match, I have changed my opinion about you.In fact I have become a fan of yours!

This letter is to let you know that in these moments of elation and victory that you have just achieved, I completely empathize with you when people question you unnecessarily about irrelevant things, such as umpiring and behavior. For your conduct on and off field has taught me so many things in life that dad, religion and experience couldn't, a few of which I felt I should share with you and make you proud:

* The world is a dirty place, and you can’t expect it to be fair. When people call you a world champion, you represent the world, and since the world is unfair, why not be unfair? After all its in the “spirit of the game”

* Stand by your teammates no matter what. You know you’ve nicked it to slip, but won’t the non-striker feel lonely if you walk off? That too when you’re not sure whether the umpire is pointing at a kookaburra flying up there, or his actions have anything to do with the ball you just played…

* When you desire something from your heart, all the forces in the world will work towards helping you achieve it. Very true isn’t it Mr.Ponting? You desired to carry on your winning streak, and all the forces of cricket, the umpires, match referees, cricket boards… helped you achieve it!

* The grass always appears greener on the other side. Which is probably why people who saw the television replays think they saw more grass on the ball than fingers!

* Love thy enemy. Is it not in the interests of Harbhajan that you filed a complaint against him? Who else, but captain courageous, could exemplify good-manners! I can see your noble intentions in trying to reform him. That you seem to cower when he’s bowling (try a chucking allegation hear, Murali will testify) is an insignificant fact ain’t it??

* Be humanitarian. Of course someone who insults our ape ancestry, and hence our race, ought to be called racist!

*Always think twice before you speak. Had that reporter known that integrity is something you lack, he wouldn’t have questioned you about it. I can understand how it would’ve felt when someone “questions” something you don’t possess at all. There are a lot of other things I learnt, that I would love to share with you, but I do not wish to waste your valuable time. I understand you will need plenty of time to network with umpires, board members, statisticians, team mates, devise “winning tactics” (after all aren’t you the best captain in the world!), think of allegations to hoard on players who “trouble” your team, and ensure that your team plays in the “spirit of the game”.

Last but not least,

YOU MIGHT’VE WON 16 MATCHES, BUT YOU HAVE LOST THE GAME

With reverence,

R Vijaynarain

(a fan of the gentleman's game)

Saturday Blues

2007-11-24T18:34:00.000+05:30

He was typing on his mobile, what was apparently, an sms. He wasn't typing fast, atleast not when compared to the speeds at which a lot of people he had been with typed. They used to type like life depended on it! And he used to wonder, maybe it really did. Maybe the person recieving the message, was all that mattered to the sender. And sometimes the smile that appeared on their faces, when a new message came, only reinforced his belief.

His message wasn't going to hold anybody's life at stake. Not today. Not this cold saturday afternoon. Maybe never. The match on tv was as lacklustre as the commentary that was fell in his ears every now and then. Sending a text message was definitely something better to concentrate on. It was the “in” thing after all…being occupied with your mobile while the person sitting next to you is trying to make a conversation with you. His case was better. The only person around, was in the kitchen. And she didn’t have to use text messaging to remind him food was ready.

His life couldn’t have been more exciting. A newfound corporate job with a paycheck that could’ve sustained a typical lower-middle class family a decade ago, a bunch of amicable colleagues, who smiled at him whenever he smiled at them, and a mobile phone that could even send text messages! And today was a holiday! Today was the day he had all the time in the world to spend, the way he wanted. Which was exactly his problem. He had tried calling home a couple of people he considered friends, who took liberty of the same, to tell him he was too boring to meet up with. He was sick of staring into the computer screen, and certainly not in the mood for music.

He wondered if he was asking too much of God. Why had God not made him like others? Why did he look different from the rest? Why did he not “belong” to groups? Why was he unable to penetrate beyond basic pleasantries when talking to people? Why was he not engaged in long, hushed conversations? Why did he not have a shoulder to lean on? Why was he unable to spend one Saturday afternoon in peace? Was this “insecurity”, as one of his “friends” put it? He continued typing. In a few seconds he would’ve sent his message. He would’ve become like the others. For he would’ve done something normal. The few seconds passed… And a few more… Finally his mobile buzzed! The message he had sent to himself arrived…

Everything we get in life is a compromise for something we want, and everything life doesn't give us,is what we want most

Big Lie Small World

2007-10-22T20:15:00.002+05:30

We have blogs at Cognizant. Decided to start one. Called it Blogarhythm. Made my first post today. Here goes!

"Hello World" goes the default heading of the first post. Gets me wondering…will my hello make a difference to the world? What makes you think the world's gonna sit up and take notice when I say hello? For one, I'm pretty sure the number of people reading this post would shrink into oblivion when compared with the number of people who don't even know it exists! Heck an average American would hesitate if you asked him where the Eiffel Tower is, before giving you "U.K" for a reply* ! Here we are talking about one ordinary post in one very ordinary blog, saying "Hello!" to the world!

Ok, by now you've probably assumed I'm either nuts or totally zonked in the head. Let me clarify. I'm both. Its the world that drives us all nuts. As for the zonked part, I couldn't come up with an option for the "either" clause in the previous sentence, so used it :P !! And why does the world drive us nuts?? The Aristotles and Socrateses couldn't answer that, so don't look for the answer here…For those who argue that the aforementioned gentlemen DID answer the question, I'm not a student of philosophy. Whats the point of having complicated, incomprehensible answers to simple questions, if a common man cannot understand them?!! And for those who argue that the world DOES NOT drive us nuts, here's my answer: if the world didn't drive us nuts, we wouldn't have had a Shakespeare writing a Hamlet, or the millions of students across the globe (literally) whose lives were made miserable by it…if the world didn't drive us nuts, we wouldn't have had a Devdas drinking his way to perdition, or the hundreds of cinema goers content with watching his sob story unfold, brought to life (err done to death??) by a very mediocre actor trying hard to convince he's actually sobbing…the list goes on.

So why this post?? And why so many questions?? What am I trying to say?? I happen to be at my cynical best/worst right now, and have nothing better to do than inaugrate my blog with this post:P. I agree this is just another attempt to be different, but isn't that what we all strive for?? The relentless pursuit to be different, to do things no one has done? To show others that we have done something they probably haven't? Only, little do we realize that they too have done things you haven't! They are different too! I guess the irony "Remember you are unique…just like everyone else" sums it up.

This post has probably driven you nuts by now. Ofcourse it will, and I have every right to feel proud if it indeed has. Because now I am part of this world too! And the world drives people nuts! If this post hasn't driven you nuts, then yo're probably nuts already!

Coming soon: Why bolts are better than nuts

*Americans are dumber than you would've expected. Proof coming up in the next post

The Winning Note!

2007-10-13T21:24:00.001+05:30

I'm just back from a press conference at GRT Grand days hotel in Chennai. We went there thinking the winners of the finals would be announced. Our band Srishti has lost the semifinals. We thought we had been called to cheer the other bands. A buffet later, we were ushered into the conference hall. Krish anchored the proceedings as usual.

We were told Rahman Sir wouldn't be coming as it was Ramzan Day and that the verdict was recorded at his studio and would be played to us. The three finalists in contention were : Oxygen, Zinx and V3.

Then they played a video about how it all began and where it had reached now, interspersed with Rahman Sir talking about the show and the talent that was exhibited. Then there was a dance performance for the Ooh La la la song. Then there was the vote of thanks, thanking everyone involved. This was followed by another dance performance by the same group, to Athiradee.I could judge the restlessess of the finalists, waiting for the results! As for our band, we were just waiting to pounce on the winning band, and ask them to treat us.

Then it was time to announce the results! Krish announced that Rahman Sir would announce the result played on video. Rahman Sir spoke. A brief of what he said : Sir felt all the bands exceeded his expectations. Also he said that there were some aspects that were expected from bands, which were not exhibited by some, and some other aspects which he least expected, but was exhibited by the bands.

Then came the surprise/shock of the day. Rahman ji said that he didn't like judging because it was very difficult. He also said he couldn't decide on ONE winner alone. So he had chosen 6 winners!!!

*Silence*

And on expected lines, the three finalists were announced as the first three winners (in no particular order).
Then he announced Agam, Madras Tunes and Srishti (Yes thats us!!!) as the other 3 winners!

This was the moment of my life! The biggest surprise ever. Even thrilling was watching Rahman Sir, the only inspiration behind any music we've made. watching the video of our band perform in the quarterfinals and comment on our performance. Sir said he liked our boldness of expression, and our attitude onstage, and that there was Jeevan in our music!

What happened next is just a vague remembrance now... Hugs, photo sessions, the trophy and speaking to the media, thanking Rahman sir, 2 gulab jamoons, a sandwich and an ice cream..a few phone calls...Back home.

And here I am typing this writeup to the group!!!

Do watch the final episode tomorrow ie SUNDAY , the 14th of October, on Sun TV at 8.30 PM!
LONG LIVE ARR!!
LONG LIVE HIS MUSIC!!

Pics with ARR at Ooh La La Finals

2007-10-03T21:29:00.001+05:30

The full signature! ( Or how I almost sang in front of ARR )

2007-09-19T20:04:00.001+05:30

Yesterday the shooting for the finals of Ooh La La took place at
Chettind Vidyashram auditorium. Our band, Srishti had lost the semis.
We were called along with some of the other bands to perform one song
together. We chose Vande Mataram. Two days of hard practice and the
song was ready. Basically it was a transition from the National song
to its unforgettable album version and then to Aazadi ( my idea :D ).

The shooting of the finals episode was to start at 7 pm. Three
finalists 3 songs each. Going by previous experience, I was quite sure
it would start much later, and was prepared for a late night showdown.
We were to do our song after the three bands were finished. I started
from home at around 10.30.

The atmosphere was electric. The first band had finished shooting 2
songs. The third was to start. There he was! Sitting on a sofa on a
separate dias. And we were seated hardly 10 feet away from him!! There
we sat watching the band perform. I was watching ARR's reactions
throughout the performance.

Once the third song was done, there was the usual gap when the next
band sets up on stage. This was my chance. I asked Selvakumar Sir (who
provided us a practice pad and is a close associate of Rahman Sir), if
my sister and I could take a snap with him. He agreed and up we went
on stage. To my surprise, I was introduced to Rahman Sir as the singer
of Srishti and he seemed to remember the band !! Click!

Next band onstage. Their second song got over. Another chance. Went
onstage with our band's female vocalist, and Selvakumar Sir
reintroduced both of us!! This time the conversation with boss was
longer. I asked him if he had heard our band. He said "yes"!!! I asked
him for an autograph on a piece of paper I'd managed to find. And I
requested him to sign his name fully, saying the last two times he had
given me an autograph, it was just his initials :P!! Sir smiled and
obliged with :

Lots of love,

Rahman

A R R


Click!!!

It was around 2 am and Sir was getting late for a flight. Shooting
went at a faster pace. The three bands were done performing, and
Rahman Ji was called onstage to announce results. There were quite a
few funny moments, with the shot of him walking up the stage having
many retakes. A visibly amused ARR hopped on one leg between takes :P!!

ARR spoke a few words about the competition and its positive effects.
There was tremendous tension in the air. Then came the anticlimax of
the day. ARR said he wasnt going to announce the results as he wasnt
ready with them yet, and that he would have to go back home, think and
decide!! Then he presented a Yamaha Keyboard to one of the bands, as a
special mention, praising them for their performance at a young age.
Then he said "bye guys"

Only later did we realise it meant he was leaving the sets, and going
back home. Disappointment. ARR would not be there to see our
performance :(  H.Sridhar ji who was at the mixing console,  was very
particular about pitching and warned us he would decrease levels if
the voices went out of scale :P! We went onstage, rehearsed,
performed.  !! It was 4.30 am.   My voice was gone by now, and my
throat was sore. Time to leave. Few photographs with the friends we
made in the other bands. Many goodbyes. Back home by 6.30.

Am I happy?? Yes. 2 photographs and an autograph...And an assurance
that ARR will watch our performance on TV.
But a slight sense of disappointment lingers. Would've been such an
experience singing with the MAN right in front of us!

Pics at AM Studios!!

2007-08-07T22:09:00.000+05:30

1. Me on an electronic organ!
2. Me again :P!!
3. With our band drummer Prasanna

Met the Mozart of Asia...speechless!

2007-08-07T21:39:00.000+05:30

Today is a great day for me. After 7th October 2005, today is when I got my proper chance to meet A.R.Rahman the legend, the God of Indian music! We were called to AM studios at 5 PM. The studio is beautiful!! We were told to wait in a room to which we had to go downstairs and take another flight of stairs. As we proceeded downstairs, I saw a white Innova taxi pull up at the gate. And lo! ARR steps out of the vehicle, clad in a white kurta! He casts a glance towards the four of us who were there, and goes up through another entrance.

The excruciating wait of half an hour downstairs was well...excruciating, especially when you know ARR is up there inside! And finally, our chance came. "Srishti!" came the call, and we were ushered into the lobby where we had earlier been seated. I'll describe the lobby later :P!
There he was! The man! The legend! We had taken cameras along, only to learn we couldn't take pics :( But there was the press, and they were taking pics of each band with Boss.

Rahman Sir looked at me and said "hi". I blurted out a " Hello Sir" when what I actually wanted to say was something like "Do you realize what a great moment this is for me Mr. Rahman, and it lies entirely in your hands to make it last for more than a minute"!
Then Rahman Sir asked us how the experience was.
"Great"
And then he asked is to sit in a couch. I sat between our guitarist and our other vocalist. And Rahman Sir right behind me, resting his hand on the sofa! Click!

We were promised the photos would be sent to us as soon as possible.

Now to the lobby. Gr8 ambiance, with loads of oriental wall hangings, and other stuff. Particularly noticeable were some electric wall hangings, that glowed like lightning bolts, all of which converged around your hand when you touched them! Plus there was an electronic organ at one corner. Then the showcase. This was interesting. Loads of awards, including those from CNN-IBN, Filmfare etc were there. And below was a small bookshelf. Some of the books I saw there: One about microphone techniques, few books on Islam, a couple from a series called Great Composers, on Mozart and Bach, a book about Superbowl, an edition of Society Magazine with ARR on the cover...

I am right now out of words, exhausted, exhilarated, excited and drained!! All this happened just 3 hours ago! Will post pics and more when I regain consciousness! :P

Update: Ooh la la la

2007-08-01T20:53:00.000+05:30

The semifinals of Ooh la la la are going to take place on the 1st and 2nd of September. The finals will be on the 4th of September. Yes you heard right! The 9 bands that are in are supposed to prepare for the semis as well as the finals!!
Here's what we are supposed to do for the semifinals:

An instrumental version of any song by Boss!!(Vocals without lyrics allowed)

An acoustic composition (read NO electronic instruments) based on a theme which will be given shortly by Gautam Menon

For finals,

A song based on a theme given by Rahman Sir

A song written by Vaali Sir

Boy this whole month's gonna be hectic! We are going to have grooming sessions for each instrumentalist, by eminent personalities this weekend. These include Keith Peters for bass, Vasundara Das for vocal techniques, Illayaraja Sir's guitarist for the guitars and so on!

And apparently they have a surprise waiting for us on Sunday evening. My guess is as good as yours!! Hoping this dream comes true!!

Plus, we'll be having practise sessions throughout this month. Ooh can't wait to get started!!

Ooh la la la baby!!

2007-07-26T23:56:00.000+05:30

Ok, I'm in a state of unadulterated excitement and happiness, and its distracting me from typing. The past three days have been a strain on the nerve and a pain in the ass. Talkin of ass, he did a great job and so did the rest of us. Yeah Ass (with the capital A) is our guitarist's nickname. We are into the semi finals, yes, SEMI FINAS of Ooh La La La !! We are one of 6 bands that have made it from all over the state. My conscience tells me I'm bragging. My conscience be damned!

We were supposed to shoot day before. The elimination process in this show goes like this: 18 bands in the quarter finals are grouped into 3 bands a group, and each episode covers these 3 bands. 2 bands are eliminated, and thus, 6 bands make it to the semis. We were told our competitiors were Yuj and E-Flat. Having heard both bands, our confidence level kinda dipped. And the shoot getting postponed only made the situation worse!

Today, we went to AVM studios by 12 noon. Sivamani Sir, Vasundara Das and Paul Jacob sir are the judges. Having not attended a grooming session by Paul Sir, we were worried he might think we were being complascent. E Flat performed first, and they put up a great show! Then came our turn!!!!!

There's something about the audio and the stage that gets your adrenaline pumping, for as soon as we set foot on stage, there was this feeling of let-anything-happen-don-give-a-damn! A couple of rehearsals and we were on! Take 1!
And then the remix...We did a funk-jazz-rockish adaptation of Mankuyile Poonkuyile :D!! Again a coupla rehearsals and Take 1!
Boy was it fun onstage! The energy was so contagious, I almost fell on my guitarist who had somehow managed to get right behind me!!

Then the third band performed. Yuj couldn't make it, so it was a band called Tarangam. Meanwhile the other bands had to sit in another room and watch the proceedings on a plasma TV, and give feedback. The sad part was, while we were giving bytes, the TV was muted, and that was exactly when Sivamani sir made a call to Ilayaraja Sir, and kept a mike to the phone mouthpiece for the audience to hear!! We thought it was ARR he was speaking to. What a wonderful opportunity missed! Hearing the maestro comment on our performance!!

Time for results...nervous...bated breath...one representative from each band goes onsage...red light shines on the eliminated band's rep...first its Tarangam...now its just US and E Flat...equally competitive teams...Paul Jacob Sir lists our pluses and minuses...and the countdown begins...one...two...cut!...retake...anchor talks...one...cut!!...more talk...one...two...three.....

We've won. Our reactions are being captured on cam. We watch, as our bassist stands under green light, with a plain look on his face. Those french chicks I didn't mention earlier are happy we won!! They'd been praying sincerely that we win!! So much for global appeal :P! The judges are called onstage! Sivamani sir starts some percussion, and Vasundara joins him on the vocals...we jam along, our claps setting the tempo...We're happy...exhilarated...beyond words!!!

A few more pics with the celebs, a few more handshakes, and am back home typing this, wondering whatever the hell happened to my english and creative writing skills!

PS: ARR was one foot away from me a coupla days ago when I was watching another band perform. Was around 1 am! He left in a minute, so no pics, no autograph :( But gr8 feeling all the same!

Current situation

2007-07-07T18:41:00.000+05:30

I'm grateful to God for a lot of things. And a lot of other things, I'm praying I'll be grateful for, in the near future. As it is here's an update of things that have happened in life recently:

1. Giving my GRE in 2 days. Preparation is okay
2.Formed a band called Srishti, made some good music and friends
3. Entered "Ooh La la" and got through to the second round, the briefing of which is being given by none other than A.R.Rahman, even as I sit and type this, to Aswath, our band guitarist! (Only one person allowed, and GRE looming large, I cant believe I'm not there boo hoo!)
4. Waiting for date of joining from CTS. Hope it takes time. Hardly enjoyed the holidays :(
5. Lots of treats pending, all deferred until after GRE
6.Life is hectic!

More posts to follow about the inception of Srishti and subsequent developments. No more posts about GRE :P!!

Why this post?? In the words of an old mallu friend : Simbly!

The moment!

2007-06-05T17:39:00.000+05:30

In typical Anna University style, the results have come out just when you didn't give a damn about them. And I've just learnt that I'm an engineer now! My mom ad sister are right by my side wondering wat the hell i'm doin,. And my friend, 2 yrs junior to me, is trying his best to distract me. This is the moment, and i'm ecstatic. Here comes ravikiran's call. I'm seeing his results. don mind the typos, the human mind behaves oddly and limbs freeze wen in tension. What am i typing *&%$&^! Anyway Ravikiran is BE too and i'm happy for all the souls who have completed it with me!

Bottomline:

Vijaynarain is B.E, Computer Science and Engineering!

(u see bottomline should be at te bottom hence the space :D)

Rang-e-Khoda

2007-03-23T13:23:00.000+05:30

Just saw this movie. I'm not going to review it. But I couldn't resist writing about this amazing piece of cinema, only now that I've begun, I'm searching for words. When you know a movie's about a disabled person, you kinda expect some emotional string-pulling. This movie doesn't pull strings, it plays tug of war!

Majid Majidi's Rang-e-Khoda (wrongly translated to Color of paradise instead of Color of God) is the best film I've seen till date. I would equate its brilliance to that of The Shawshank Redemption and October Sky. Like his Bacheha ye Aasman (Children of heaven), Majidi uses the child protagonist to take you through the story.

Mohammed is a blind boy whose father takes him to their village for vacations. His father, who has had a difficult time bringing him up after his wife's death, wants to apprentice him to a blind carpenter. The father has plans for remarriage, and his blind son is an embarrassment. What unfolds is a story of kindness, desperation, helplessness against the forces of nature, and ultimately surrender to the supreme power. All this is portrayed with a screenplay that is sheer poetry. This movie has made me realise that Iran is more than just desert and mountains what with heavenly locales, wonderful cinematography and the best acting I’ve seen in a long time. Watch this movie.

2006-12-13T22:33:00.000+05:30

I am listening to Madurai Mani Iyer exploring Charukesi. Its been months since I heard anything even remotely carnatic..And here I am now, writing this post, rather being forced by the subconcious to write. Why? Because this rendition, this great doyen of South Indian classical music, this raaga and this very moment of bliss I am experiencing, all deserve more than just an insignificant bit of blog-space, which is the least I have to give.

I have never heard anyone with such creativity when it comes to kalpana swaras. As far as my knowledge goes, a raaga is usually elaborated in the initial aalapanai..but in Madurai Mani Iyer's case, the kalpana swaras and neraval elucidate the whole raagam beautifully. I don't think it should take an afocionado to appreciate the music..pure brilliance!!

Charukesi-what a beautiful name for such a wonderful raaga! It has melancholy written all over it, bringing a smile on the face, and a tear in the eye. One raaga that has a life of its own. In fact, it is very much like life itself..just as you begin to enjoy it, it reaches a point where there's utter sadness, and yet you refuse to let go of the happiness it just brought to the mind. In the end you are left with a sense of fulfilment, rather fullness(I can't find the right word here).

Again, I wonder why I even wrote this. I am not satisfied with this write-up..I have no idea why. But yes, I am happy that I wrote about something I wanted to write about..some things don't change over time..like this particular rendition of this song Adamodi..the singer doesn't exist in this world anymore..yet he exists in those who have heard him sing. This raaga doesn't exist to the person who hasn't heard this..isn't this the case with everything in this world..wonder how many such things we are missing in life!

Wordsworth(less)

2006-11-09T21:10:00.000+05:30

Its that time of the semester again! (No I don't mean
"blog-update" time. I'm trying not to make it a yearly
ritual but kya karein..read on and you'll know why I'm so
busy) It the model exams. Now before you call them a
waste of time, let me tell you that our college has been
pretty empathetic with us students. The exams have been
timed from 1 to 4 pm ! Our college definitely understands
our need to sleep well before writing exams, so that we
write them with a relaxed mind. And what does a relaxed
mind write in the answer sheet? Well, thats what this post
is all about !

I draw a lot of flak from my peers for writing beyond the
third page. What these poor nitwits don't seem to
understand is that I write for the sheer pleasure of
writing. Not that I am Paulo Coehlo or anything, but when I
put pen on paper, like they say "the words flow out" ! And is
the stuff I write relevant to the subject ? I'll leave you to
answer that, considering I've written so much into this post
and am not even through with the introduction yet :D. By
now you probably know what to expect when I write.

Today's paper was a trip down the memory lane : Principles
of Environmental Science and Engineering. Yes, this is
another of the university's sadistic moves to remind us that
we are on the wrong side of 20 and were better off ten
years earlier reading about what happens to the food after
it exits our system. I was pretty pleased with the stuff I
wrote, so instead ofsubmitting my paper, I brought it home.
I'm posting some excerpts. Due to the
"kid-with-a-halo-around-his-head" reputation that I suffer
from in college, I had to enforce a degree of censorship. But
the internet's a fools paradise. So here goes !!

Q: List the physical properties of soil (huh)

A: 1.Soil is dark in color
2.It feels like mud
3.It tastes awful
4.It contains moisture
5.It also contains dead and decaying plant and animal
remains, and sometimes even people buried alive.
6.It is found in train toilet seats, hence the saying "do not soil the toilet seat"

(the above answer is a tribute to all dumb Americans, sorry
all Americans...and Bush)

Q: What is the 3R principle?

(this one I know!!)

A: The 3R* principle mainly applies to plastics and is as
follows:

1.Reduce
2.Reuse
3.Recycle

* Not applicable for condoms

Q: State article 51-A(g) of the Indian constitution

(they give Bush stiff competition, don't they?)

A: (My intelligence curbed my urge to write "Article
51-A(g) of the Indian constitution" as the answer to this
one)

"All men are born equal, and enjoy equally the right to
freedom, liberty and pursuit of happiness, women and
trouble. However if any sonofab***h tries to mess with
momma nature, she's gonna stick an antarctic iceberg
up your a** and freeze it mighty stiff "

Q: What is precautionary principal??

I didn't answer this one..I mean I didn't want to lose
internal marks writing about our principal despite the
temptation. But now I realise I might as well have written,
for I've brought the answer sheet home !

Q: Explain "clean technology" and "end of pipe approach".

A:(this one's muh favorite)

Clean Technology is technology that poses no threat to
the environment. For example: A bird's nest.
As is obvious this field has no scope to offer for humans
the reasons for which are elucidated in the next answer.

The "end of pipe" approach is an indecisive approach. Its
success largely depends on which side of the pipe you are
on, and what the pipe is made of. Success here would be a
vintage English pipe with expensive tobacco. Failure would be
facing the wrong end of a sewage drain pipe ! As we can
see this method has its pros and cons.

Q: Write about management of municipal sewage.

(I didn't want to answer this one, but like I already
said...)

A: Sewage as we know it is all waste matter mixed in water
to form a slushy substance. However I feel there is more
to this term than just organic waste. There is an emotional
plane to this concept as well. It deals with thought
processes.

The human mind is as corrupt and full of excess as is a
sewage tank. only, it appears pristine at the outside. This
in itself is one of its devious illusions, that stands testimony
to its treacherous nature. For how else can we explain
greed, lust,hatred, racist vendetta, lobbying, red-tapism
and other heinous acts of mankind. And how else can we
explain the biggest illusion of deception devised by the
human mind, that drives other minds to insanity- the illusion
that is "love" !

Ask they ask me to write about what the municipality does
about managing sewage ! Can't you understand ? The
municipality is filled with minds that are far worse and
emanate fouler stench than any sewer in the world ! Don't
you realise that the municipality, the administration heck,
the whole of mankind IS the sewage we are talking,
err..not talking about ?!

Now don't ask me if I'm not one among these corrupt
minds. I agree I am, and have no qualms admitting that you
are too ! I am writing this for the sake of sixteen
worthless marks, but don't give a damn even if I'm
deprived of 'em. What really seems to matter is that even
as we are wasting our precious time and contaminated
thoughts poring over how to make each others' lives
miserable, another chunk of melting ice has just fallen into
the antarctic ocean, another child is dying of hunger in
Cambodia, another helpless Muslim woman is being harassed
by the man she's supposed to call "husband", another futile
war strategy is being planned against Iraq, another college
student is contemplating suicide...Man the environment sure
is colorful !

(that question was for 16 marks so please understand...)

Pretty long post eh? I guess that makes up for the delay it
took coming to this blog :) If you thought my answers were
funny, I strongly recommend the PEVS book by Charulatha
publications. If you thought otherwise, I still recommend
that book (get a life !)

Where is the asylum?

2006-07-22T23:04:00.000+05:30

What's worse than a dvd getting stuck the moment you run it? A dvd that gets stucks when there's just fifteen mins to go in the movie,and the movie that happens to be The Pianist!
I guess it was the same foreordination that didn't introduce me into the world as a Jew in Nazi Germany that made the dvd work properly today.The movie had arguably,the most haunting visuals I've ever seen till date.Anyway I guess its a bit too late to review this flick,and I'm bad at it,so full stop.

Cut to GRE class this evening,and I was as usual,resolute to pay maximum attention;and as usual discussion about some word veered off topic..a la orkut it was roughly thus:
machiavellian -> history -> the pianist -> nazi and vietcong -> beslan -> survival of the fittest -> happiness
I had been to this home for the mentally challenged quite some time ago in one of our Rotaract club outings.It had about 40 inmates,and we were to interact with them for a few hours.I had never been to such a place before and was a bit skeptic(scared says my alter ego).But the moment we entered the room where the inmates lived,my mood changed.There was nothing abnormal about the people I saw there...atleast I didn't find elongated heads,or saliva-dripping mouths out of the ordinary.There were people of all ages,ranging from 3yr olds playing with blocks,to a 55 yr old man who was a specialist in identifying raagas of any song u sang to him!
The feeling of joy in a child's face when you give him a chocolate is something...the glee in the face of these people we called callously label retarded,when we gave them sweets,is beyond words.
One particular guy took a liking for me,as my name was Vijay and happened to be his thalaivar's name,and wanted me to dance with him...it was the first time in my life someone had asked me to dance and i'd obliged...then it was time to go..we left.

Reminiscing the visit during our talk about happiness set me thinking: all our lives we go in pursut of happiness.We set goals and subject ourselves to many an ordeal,consoling ourselves that the fruition of the goal will make us happy.Whether or not we achieve our goals is another issue..sometimes we get what we want, yet there is a sense of unfullfilment;and sometimes we are happy for no reason.What about those people we consider mentally challenged? Do they crave to become doctors or singers or actors too? How is it that I saw a smile on every one of their faces?How is it that they are ecstatic when asked to dance,or given a chocolate? They live in a world of their own...We sympathise with them for being what they are..but I wonder..could it be the other way round? Maybe thiers is a world where there are no agonising ordeals,no commitments,no sacrifices to be made...a world that knows no sorrow,a world where one does not pine for a love that never was,or grieve over stolen money or fight for oil...a world where simple acts of love can leave one in blissful enjoyment..Maybe in their world,we are the mentally "retarded" ones...retarded because we are incapable of saying a "thank you",because we judge a person by his color,because we are incapable of thinking beyond money,carnal pleasures and more money...because we fail to appreciate those little things in life that bring a smile to their faces..because we have more questions than answers....

Flightplan

2006-06-14T22:29:00.000+05:30

"Mitti ki hai jo khushboo..thu kaise bhoolayega.."

How true! Especially if you're scared of flying like I am :D.A lot of people would probably laugh their asses off but who gives a damn!So here I am in aamchi Mumbai happy to be writing this post.Inference: My flight landed safely!!
Was a Jet Air flight,and that was some solace(the airhostesses look way better than IA or AI).But then again,the moment the plane picked up speed,my heart did the usual hop-skip-n-jump and when it finally took off I was mouthing all the slokas that my parents taught me as a kid.Finally it steadied at a height from which I couldn't see the ground(read the vertical distance couldn't frighten me anymore).This is what heaven must look like!Full of cotton candy without carcinogenic coloring.No,this was not my first flight,heck it must've been my thirtieth,but I guess the older we grow,the more perverted our imagination gets.
I tried to distract myself and distraction was right beside me in the form of a beautiful chick in a green hug-me-tight tee and tighter jeans.Had this been a train or bus,I would've been on clound nine.But hell,this was a plane,this was nine thousand feet up in troposphere, this was way above cloud nine! It isn't often that a beautiful girl who hasn't seen you before smiles at you,and in my case she was the first.All I could offer was a constipated rearrangement of lips.
Talking of constipation,inflight meals arrived.I'd rather not talk about the mor-kozhambu+jeera rice+"barotta" combo that was served.But then there was mango souffle and it was really good.Halfway through,the plane started trembling,cabin lights dimmed,there was an announcement about turbulent weather and undigested food was desperatey trying to push the souffle out of my throat.I hope "Green"ita(howz that for a name :D) wasn't watching the expressions on my contorted face.That was the end of meals and souffle.
It was landing time,and time for more turbulence,more nausea.And guess what? Greenita was cold and tense too.I could see it in her face.Maybe it was her first flight...Maybe I could talk to her after we landed..if we landed that is...Back to slokas...
I was waiting for my baggage to arrive.It arrived.She was waiting for her baggage to arrive.I had to leave,and couldn't risk getting caught ogling,by my mom.One parting glance..There was my uncle waving at me.
I was inside my uncle's car,and just as we left the airport I saw her again...OK enuff of this romantic crap...you are in Bombay!! My uncle turned on the radio and there was Rahman crooning mitti ki....
BOMBAY HERE I COME!!!

Of Culture shaack and OC saappadu

2006-02-27T18:44:00.000+05:30

"Konala irundha thaan adhu Vanavil"
-G.Ashok (Cultural Secretary,Vanavil 2006)

Beat that and you get to sit in his chair next year.Well,the first intercollege culturals of SRM Valliammai engg college ,Vanavil '06 finally happened.Yes,it was a success,thanks to Ashok and a long list of other ODeers.
Day 1
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,and their ignorance of the fact that my musical knowledge was limited to group songs in school,landed me a post called "organiser" for the classical solo comp.As usual everything started late and the judges for the finals arrived before the prelims even started,so we decided to let them judge both,prelims and finals.Everything went smoothly after that,except that there were no writing pads for the judges,refreshments actually served their purpose by arriving late,I missed my host performance leaving my guitarist fuming,and only one out of my nine team members turned up that day.Thanks to this one soul Srikant,and a bunch of willing juniors,we pulled through...well,sort of.
One of the judges was my music teacher in school Shri P.B.Shrirangachari, and boy,was I glad to accompany him to lunch at the Royal Southern,a 3 star hotel owned by our management.Giving me company was the other Sreekanth of our class who'd escorted Sir to our college that morning.Butter naan with a coupla paneer side dishes and a 3 storey ice cream delite was somewhat fulfilling,considering i had to only sign the bill,not pay it! Sreekanth escorted Sir back home in the same college-arranged cab,while I returned to college.A loud belch signified the grand success of my event.
Day 2
Payback time it was,and here I was watching RJ Balaji from Radiomirchi giving Ashok's mokkais stiff competition.I was supposed to be helping Santhosh organise the RJ-ing event.The chap had been there throughout my event,compering, so I had to do something in return.Well,they learnt from our mistakes and I had not much to do but sit back and let my ears bleed.We celebrated the success of our events by taking snaps with baba,our princi(you see I'm a photography buff and plan to send the pics to NGC)
Pre-valedictory,there was the SS music team with Craig n Shyam,shootin college da.There were paper rockets flying everywhere.I took a formidable seat between Craig and the ex-bomb of our college,only to realise that the disciplinary commitee(our CS dept female staff) was sitting rite behind me.My HOD and a co-whiner ordered me to tell the students to stop throwing 'em rockets,even as Craig got up and threw them back at the crowd!! The VJs went on stage and Craig introduced us to the sexiest man in SS music(his producer).Had we heard right?? He had just said the word "sexy".Wasnt that taboo? Boy,you should've seen the faces of our staff!! Then there was Craig pulling our cult sec's leg.
As usual the valedictory function had empty seats despite Anuradha Sriram's presence.Meanwhile I was into my second innings at Royal Southern,this time with Shyam(of kolangal fame and Mukesh,the guy who sang that helluva song thickuruvi for thalaivar).Arguably the best part of Vanavil'06 was the jingle composed by Satyaraj,the prodigy of our college,and Baba messed up the credits to the song by mentioning my name as Vijaychitra instead of Vijaynarain (yes,I've sung in it).
Thus ended the first ever culturals of our college,and thus ends my second proper post to my blog.

Happy New Year

2006-01-02T22:20:00.000+05:30

My warm wishes to all of you for a prosperous,happy,successful (and a not so cliched) new year!!Things I plan to do this year??

-Go to college (regularly ie)
-Take up my GRE (assistance welcome)
-Start learning to write into blogs(again assistance welcome)
-Take up piano classes
-Take up carnatic (and/or) hindustani vocal lessons
-Cope up with all these classes and still find time to blog
-Listen to good music aka ARR
-Sing for ARR
-Grow up at least another 3 inches (suggestions welcome)
-Do my bit for my country

Ok,thats enough to start with...

Blurb

For a change, something worth reading-1

VJam- My gig at the Russian Cultural Center

If you don't find this post awesome...

Love- Make that change

Jhoota Hi Sahi- First thoughts (Quite literally)

The CWG Theme... My Take on all the BS

[Serial] Will Chandru Kalakkify? (aka Amu-kky Vaasippala?)- Part 2

Will Chandru Kalakkify? (aka Amu-kky Vaasippala?) - 1

Raavan-My take (Not that it matters or I care that it doesn't)

[55-Fiction]- For a few words more

Of shades and facades

MSN- Mostly Stupid News

Feature in the Semmozhi Maanadu song by A.R.Rahman!!!

Sleepers Creepers!

And so here goes...My solo song :)

The Face with no Value (because she hadn't uploaded her dp yet) and the Book with no Pages (coz the internet connection was down)

Movie Review- Payya (there's no re-viewing this one :P)

Mylapore Masala and Bus-Kisu-Kisu

Of Ability, Music and Following the heart

Of Love, Bones and V-Day Vendetta

Kuwait Awaits! :)

Of dogs eating dogs, headbanging and eggless cakes

Music Review: Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya (A.R.Rahman)

Untitled Poem

> The tags should include poem-with-no-title> The poem should preferably be just random thoughts and abstract-ish

Rejection- 2

Jammin’ with Srishti- Live @ Chennai Sangamam- Invite :-)

Rejection - 1

An influence too significant not to write about! A birthday post :)

Of shampoo ads, new year resolutions and the East India Company

Of Super Singer Jr 2 and singing to tunes

Sil Sil Sil Sillellaaa

Friday Fury aka Ayyo aatha pulla bayapduthu!

The Mountain

Does every post need a title? What title would you give the life you've lived so far?

That thing about her!! aka That thing about your sister (if you're a guy)

Happy Diwali :)

Bombay chutney and ARR-acha maavu

Vidhyaarambham, Vada Paayasam and Karaharapriya

2 years of Cognizance, Tarantino and more...

19-B

The Ooh La La La album and the gig afterwards

Puthu Yugam- Album

Short notice :)

The finale

The elimination

Super Singer

What music means to me...

In the learning curve...

Cheering for Rahman Sir!! Jai Ho!!!!

Dilli 6 and Connections!

Indian Actresses and their not-so-Indian Secrets!!!

Raindrops

Super Whiner!

Sunday Afternoon

The recent past...

The block...

" In the spirit of the game "

Saturday Blues

Big Lie Small World

The Winning Note!

Pics with ARR at Ooh La La Finals

The full signature! ( Or how I almost sang in front of ARR )

Pics at AM Studios!!

Met the Mozart of Asia...speechless!

Update: Ooh la la la

Ooh la la la baby!!

Current situation

The moment!

Rang-e-Khoda

Wordsworth(less)

Where is the asylum?

Flightplan

Of Culture shaack and OC saappadu

Happy New Year

> The tags should include poem-with-no-title
> The poem should preferably be just random thoughts and abstract-ish