An orphaned tsunami survivor cries as she pays homage to the tsunami victims in Nagapattinam on Monday.

One Family...
for her.
And one wave...
of Water...
It came,
Ruining it..
Leaving only ruins...
of their images...
amassed as Tears...
for her.
what sin did she commit,
she herself doesnt know.
A wave of memories...
washed ashore,
in the sea of one tear-drop.
on her cheek.
One Orphan...

Extracts from The Adventures of U-Know-Who.

I wish to share a couple of episodes from the Life of U-know-who, which he narrated to me, with excruciating details.

Episode-1

Once upon a time in hyderabad, U-know-who got to take 20 pple to Industrial exhibition(which runs every year in the month of Jan).Mind you, he didnt go with 20guys but he had to take them...viz..drive them to the exhibition.Now, thats natural..for the importance(effectively affecting) he holds in the lives people living around him and also his near & dear. anyways, those 20 guys( males+females..apparently his cousins & most importantly his maamaajis daughters..Ahem!) being huge fans of u-know-who, wanted him to be with them for all the time they got to spend there.what more! with no dilly-dallying, they wanted to drench themselves in the raining affection of only u-know-who, for which, they asked him to buy a whole-lot-of-things.i cannot remember much about the purchases but it has been told that quite-a-lot has been bought. then came the fun part..err..i mean..the fun rides...the entire gang, apparently, were on a ride-spree and enjoy all the thrills ( & frills) ..after a fulltoo joy-ride session which included Tora-Tora,Giant wheel and stuff like that. the bill for all the thrill..went to u-know-who..and his wallet was heading for a kill. and after the thrill, it was time to chill.U-know-who was on a major spending spree, buying all the piping hot samosas & bhel puris and other chat'ty stuff.apparently the weight of his wallet was not showing much difference, even though u-know-who had taken the onus of entertaining 20fans from his family circle."what else", i thought, listening to the narration..but to my surprise..u-know-who..instead of adding more..has infact edited the story out and shot a final question at me.

"How much do you think i had to shell down that night?"

as always, i had only silence(in awwwwe of him) to respond with. But u-know-who is not an easy man to give up. He demands participation and will prolong the suspense to an eternity until you please him wth the question,"how much?".But then,he doesnt prolong it with silence either.instead, he shoots the order,"Ask how much? Ask me! Come on...Ask me". Finally, when i surrendered to him and asked "How much??", he broke the suspense with is unbelievable answer,"Rs.10000/-".
being a sane man(sometimes atleast),i casually asked ,"How come u carried so much Cash?".

His reply was a revelation of sorts.."I didnt have so much money. I had to use my card everywhere i spent".Everywhere! Thanks to him, for he reminded me through this story, the kind of Progress made by Information Technology in hyderabad.January is fast-approaching and i am eagerly looking forward to swipe my debit card to have a hott Mirchi-Bajji and some joy-ride thrills..

Episode-2

U-know-who had to go to Karimnagar(a district in Andhra Pradesh) in car, along with a friend of his and two girls (when it comes to girls, even James Bond is dwarfed by U-Know-who..i shall narrate his advantures with damsels in future posts). As always, he was driving and one of the females challenged the very basic skills of his life, Speed... within no time, he pulled the throttle..i mean..changed the gears and the car shot from 45kmph to 145kmph in 5 seconds. Ok, Pardon me for forgetting the brand of the car but on the flipside, had i known that, i would have immediately contacted the engineers ,who worked on the car.. only to enlighten their ignorance. I wish they knew that the car was capable of going beyond their expectations and their skill. And only one man discovered it. Ofcourse, he later touched a speed of 205kmph , only to silence that female...which is altogether a different-but-nothing-new-story.

Some habits are too hard to give up.

Credits :

U-Know-Who...for giving me a melodramatic edge-of-the-seat narration, the aesthetic & out-of-the-world quality of which.. i couldnt even dare to touch.

Albert Einstein..for his aphorism,"Imagination is far more powerful than Knowledge", which eventually turned out to be the motto of the one & only...U-Know-Who.

Though not on Public Demand...But on somebody's demand...an Early-Amateur work.

All night long---the effort to make out,
---------------------the meaning in your silence,
---------------------kept me from sleeping.
---------------------the silences fathomed,
---------------------are enigmatic... still...

All night long---a strong pulse beat,
---------------------inside and outside me,
---------------------trying to image,
---------------------the purpose of your silence.
---------------------the image is blurred... still...

All night long---the words unspoken,the tune unknown,
---------------------traced and retraced their lines,
---------------------into the truth in our hearts.
---------------------the truth and the songs,
---------------------are suppressed... still...

All night long---i waited for you,
---------------------to come and read out my poems,
---------------------sitting beside in moon-shine,
---------------------holding my palm affectionately.
---------------------i am waiting... still...

An extract from the Life of U-Know-Who:

Scene-1

An unknown guy, apparently a friend of U-Know-Who, got out of his house, after an argument with his parents..in a fit of anger...Like an angry-young-man of 70s films, he got into his car (maruthi) and began driving at a high speed. Unfortunately, the direction is not known..i mean..he himself didnt know where he was heading..but he was on the way to some place. He crossed the city outskirts and took a Highway..where he drove with such a speed that even japanese cars are put to shame. The scene ends with the car zooming past and fading behind the horizon.

Scene 2

The telephone rang. U-Know-who answered the call.Silence...he didnt speak a word for few minutes..(the camera infront of him moves upclose to his cover his facial expressions)..who is it?what is he/she saying that froze the facial nerves of you-know-who? Finally, to kill the suspense or rather to penetrate it more, he said "I'm coming...". As soon as he hung up that call, the teleohone rang again..this time again, silence..(we dont know who is on the other side? )..but much to our relief, you-know-who said,"its ok aunty...i will take care of it...you dont worry". Now you see..the suspense is partially broken..but not completely.

Scene 3

U-Know-Who got into his car and raced past the city roads. Within no time, he was out of hyderabad, driving in the same unknown direction..but on the very same highway...the only change is that you-know-who has broken the speed record set by his friend, for he is driving at a speed of 200Km/Hr...sorry..infact he crossed it..now, imagine the needle of the speedometer completing a full 720 degrees (360X2=720.. given the fact that its a maruthi..i think the max speed the speedometer reads is 120kmph..am i right?...isnt this really bad..that a car allows speeds greater than 140kmph but doesnt let the speedometer reveal it...anyways..our you-know-who could calculate it mentally..).Within no time(obviously), he reached a place where his friend was waiting for him. His car screeched to a halt...he got down and asked his friend,"what happened?"

Scene 4 (flashback)

The car his friend was driving reached a place near kurnool...forget roads, forget traffic..i mean..he forgot all of it and was still driving at great speed (not as much as u-know-who..mind u..u-know-who is unique in everything..whatever he does..) . something happened in a blink and his car flew and somersaulted in the air...like in-a-typical-tamil-film-of-Vijaykanth. After sufficient turns, the car finally surrendered to Gravity ..but in a very unique way. The car hit the ground Head-ON...90-degrees to the ground...Not a degree more-not a degree less...and since the ground was actually a wet paddy field, the car actually got stuck in that perpendicular position because the center of gravity of the car was exactly in the line of perpendicularity. Fortunately, his friend was very much safe(didnt i tell you that vijaykanth films are inspired by real-life incidents)..and got out of the car...though the car was still stuck perpendicular to the field with its nose punched in. flashback ends.

Scene 5

his friend pointed his finger at the car and you-know-who was surprised to see a car standing in verical position. now, it has to be brought back to its normal position...But is the job easy? certainly not..because the paddy field which was wet when the car smooched it, has now dried up...thanks to the intensely blazing sun rays..and it was already noon..An idea flashed in the mind of You-know-who...Immediately, he got into the car and drove ahead (this time, at a much lesser speed of just 150kmph) to a village. He gathered some people from there and got them to this site. with their help, finally, the car was brought back to its normal position..

Scene 6

U-Know-who took his friend to his home and the anxious parents breathed a sigh of relief...They thanked u-know-who for the glorious deed of saving his friend's life...His friend too couldnt couldnt control his emotions and hailed u-know-who as a........................Super Hero.
all is well...that ends well.

---As narrated by U-Know-Who.

PS: now dont ask impertinent questions like what happened to that awesome car. If that little suspense is not maintained, there wouldnt be any Enigma associated with You-Know-Who...The Saviour.

Strange turn of events. I was discussing about the college festival we guys are conducting on 5th Dec. And in a blink, i tripped over the staircase. Though i could manage to sit in the class during post-lunch session, the pain in the ankle became intolerable by 4:30pm and my friend Govind took me to NIMS hospital. The first sight of the hospital was an unforgettable one...with a guy bleeding from the knee. There was another 1st-time for me there in the hospital...For the 1st time ever, i was on a stretcher. Within no time, i landed in the Emergency ward where the doctors tested my foot by trying their hands at it. A pain-killer injection temporarily eased the pain out.An X-ray was inevitable. After teh X-ray, the attendants startled me with their jargon ," Nurse! what do you want us to do with this CASE? Shall we park here or outside?"..Godamn! i was alive...still breathing and they were referring to me as Case. Anyways, after the X-ray reports were out, doctors confirmed that there was no fracture but a tear in the ligment.
with the bandage Done, i was moved out of hospital, on same stretcher>but just when i was abt to get into teh rick, the pain peaked like hell.i yelled for doctor again. then, Action Replay...i was again brought to Emergency ward..another shot of Pain killer..and after redressing of bandage i was discharged. Doctors advised me not to walk for next 10days.
And here i am, at home..anchored to the bed with a bandage (filmi style u see )..with all the time in the world to write any crap i wish here..
So, u will get to see daily updates on my blog, for the next one week atleast...

U-Know-Who deserves to be on blog, which is why i am here, donning the role of Narrator. I shall be writing a series of adventures/anecdotes from the bygone or rather...untold chapters in the "The Life of You-Know-Who". But you must note that every detail i give is as per the narration of U-Know-Who himself. Though you are free to interpret the adventures in anyway you wish, you cannot question their authenticity whatsoever.

Centuries ago, one wise-man who found out some strange things related to Human Brain recorded those secrets in his note-book and went home. The secrets, the legend says, are so dangerous that it has strange effects..not on people who read them...but on the people whose ears fall prey to them.Back home, during dinner time, he got enraged because his wife didnt put suffcient cardamom spices in the curry and yelled at her. So, when he goes to sleep after dinner..his wife opened the book and out of curiousity, she read aloud those closely-guarded secrets. His ears wrinkled...his brain developed punctures...the room was filled with light..and God appeared. God said that he has to bear a curse for being so negligent with the secrets of the brain. Centuries later, in Kaliyuga( when God cannot be seen), God said, he would be born with an extra-ordinary skill whose direct impact would be felt on brain. The God disappeared , taking alongwith him...the wife of this wise-man.

How many years have passed and how many centuries have passed. But on one fine night, in Kaliyuga,a boy was born on planet earth, in south-india, following which there was a huge storm. Thunders from clouds... the gadgets at meteorological department got jammed. Radio stations emitted strange sounds. Down south, people, in a typical south-indian accent asked each other, "you know who is responsible for all this?". Slowly the question spread like news, in and around south-india and everybody began to believe "you-know-who is resonsible for all this".

The boy later came to be known as u-know-who.

Though not much has been revealed as yet, about his childhood, Time shall unfold every chapter sooner or later and the world shall wake up to The Legend Of U-Know-Who...through my blog.

This 23-24 yr old guy, from Hyderabad, has a tall-lean body. Stony face..Spectacles. Loves to smoke 6 cigarettes a day. And most importantly, loves to talk...so much that people close to him might consider to send him to blabbering..er...sorry...talking competitions. and his favourite topics are the ones centered around his own life. Now ok, he is not that narcissistic ok..but to be honest, he is very helpful with people...only at the cost of talking escapades.

I dont wish to write more about his personality. The adventures reveal a lot more. So, let me start off without any delay...
Coming up.."You-Know-Who----the Saviour"

Taking the inspiration from various comic-strips, i am coming up with my own character. At the onset, i couldnt really figure out the name suitable for the character. However, after much deliberation and suggestions, i have zeroed in the name as U-KNOW-WHO.
i shall kick start the adventure series very soon...Keep checking this space.

The first post would be a brief description about the character.dont miss it.

credits : J.K.Rowling, Divya( wise-moron), my friends...

and last but the least..U-KNOW-WHO himself.

How does one traverse the fissure between the thoughts and the routine..or so to say...between what you long forand what you really do?The JAM which you feel in life, after which there comes a phase of stagnation...how can you grow beyond it?

many a times, i am baffled by/with this thought, because i myself feel severe stagnation to the depths. It is like as if you have stopped growing beyond a stage. You know the next stages, the future stages...you imagine it...you understand it..yet you cannot reach out for it, for you are tied to the mundane routines of daily life, to the extent that the urge to make an attempt dies out atthe end of a tired day.

People say "you grow more...when you read more..and learn more"..Given the obstinate demands and goals we set for ourselves to make a living(supposedly a better one..), how the hell can we take out time to read..and then think..and then even execute what we've learnt. Some others say " you grow more..when you observe people..talk to them"..would i buy that? not completely though. As more and more mechanical-ity sets in...into our lives as such..the perspective of connecting with people becomes discrete rather than being a continuous process.and i think few observations dont make up a learning. There must be many more channels through which we yearn to grow up..Because not all..work right for all.May be each of us set out to seek our own path..with a direction presumably. But how do we know that we are heading right, even if we are trying to?
Like one nice writer once questioned himself, " I gave my life to become the person i am right now. Was it worth it?".

My most favourite Kids songs from Indian Films :

1. Naani teri Morni : Hemanth Kumar.

This song, from film "Masoom" (1960) , was sung by Ranu Mukherjee, Hemanth Kumar's daughter. Wonderful song, probably the benchmark for a song which is really meant for kids aged below 5 yrs.

2. Lakdi Ki Kaati : R.D.Burman.

Coincidentally, this song is also from a film "Masoom" (1983).this Shekhar Kapur's screen adaptation of Erich Segal's "Man,Woman & Child" , had fantastic music by R.D.Burman. each song has a different mood. 2 kids sang this song, one being preethi uttam. when i was a kid, my parents say, i always used to insist on playing this song. and even now, i find it extremely hummable.

3. My dear Kuttichethan : Ilaiyaraaja.

This film was dubbed into other languages as well (chota chethan in hindi), as it was a 3-D film for Kids. The soundtrack by Ilaiyaraaja is a brilliant( and rare) one.

4. Anjali : Ilaiyaraaja.

Maniratnam's "Anjali" (1990) is another film, whose complete soundtrack is my favourite.I cant choose just 1 or 2 songs but the complete soundtrack. Also, it is one of those few albums of Ilaiyaraaja, which had unique sound/presentation/genre..something which he didnt repeat in any other film.

After these, none could really make an impact.

Rewind : In the year 2002, a friend gave a cue,"Dancing Soul", to me and ravi. and we both decided to come up with whatever we could think off, from this phrase "Dancing Soul". We did. This is my version, in which, i took the liberty to use the title of a composition by "Shakti" (one of the greatest fusion bands..which had John McLaughin,Zakir Hussain,L.Shankar). The last four lines, comprise that title ( not just the title..even the track is amazing, if at all, any of you have heard it...).I do not have Ravi's version with me but i would be glad if he can put it up on his blog.

Beyond the day sky,
Rinsed in the rays of red,
And the night sky, jeweled,
With stars and smiles of moonlight,
The dark clouds and silhouettes,
With rainbows sweeping across…
Beyond the bounded ecstasies,
And torrents of pain,
Faceless anonymities called shadows,
Starving reflections called images,
Breezy waves of realities,
And fluttering curtains of illusions…

Beyond the streams of time,
From which bubble the eternal questions,
Of life and death,
Scattering my body,
To longings and meditations,
I drift giving up,
My only possession—freedom,
On the pinnacles of sheer delight,
Only to seek his love,
For freedom is of earth,
And love is of heaven.

And my creeping visions,
Set my numb sensations awake,
With a slicing melody,
And vibrant rhythms,
When I felt him, within,
And beyond the horizons of crimson desires.
Amidst the audience of angels,
What need I have for that,
What need I have for this,
I am dancing at the feet of my lord,
All is bliss…… all is bliss.

Balance Sheet :

The final outcome, after some Shit, given to us, is classified in order to strike a balance between both sides considered for classification.

Generally, the shit involves data with numbers.

Origin: Originally used phrase is "balance Shit"...since it involves a tedious proceedure, many accountants elongated the shit to sheet, which is currently in vogue.

something is missing in life. I havent been writing anything since aeons, and the itch has already started. also, with more time available to listen to music, i have come up with a good reason which can keep my writing-bug..on its toes. Today i kick-started the Fantastic combinations series on my "musicmavericks" blog. Currently, i am re-tracing the career graph of the "maniratnam-ilaiyaraaja" combination, which has given some fantastic music in the 80s and early 90s. Ravi is my partner-in-chime. i hope we can put up something worth, in the days ahead.

meanwhile, the creative department(or compartment) of my mind seems to be jammed completely, for i am unable to update anything on this blog. ofcourse, i cannot write just for the sake of obligation(towards myself again..). huh! a blog...and an obligation...sounds like a weird movie title..what could be the relationship!! there is. now that the blog(any blog..for that matter) has some readers, who keep checking it out..for updates. but i sometimes wonder, "do people really have patience to read about some one's life"..now ok..this thought is based on the assumption that a certain blog is about a person's life..his/her daily life or something of that sort...would anyone be interested? if yes, why? that doesnt mean that i am completely ego-centric or selfish (although i do have that virtue)..but,i do have this thought at times.also, if a person is writing about his/her life, on blog, then does he/she have the infinite freedom to post whatever he/she wants to. i really doubt that. everyone needs to censor something or the other, to avoid some controversy ( thats a big word..but..de-magnify it..).
still, we post. sometimes, even when we dont know what to post. is that an obligation(towards oneself again..)? Hmm! A Blog...and an Obligation...

now dont ask me, if i feel the same. all i can say it that, the itch...is minifying.

On the flip side:

look at the words!! A Blog...and an Obligation...there is already a blog in the word obligation...ok, now, fuse them..and u have "blogligation"..hmm! new word..meaningless though!

The thought of writing poetry,
gives me a greater pleasure..
than writing a poem itself.
From early dawn, I finish odd jobs,
With eager breath, knowing that,
When the right time comes,
A hushed silence would guard my door,
And a sweet fragrance would fill the room.
Only then, I shall begin to write,
my much awaited line.
A few verses in my note-book,
And I close my eyes.
A sweet dream of new poems,
Plays in my eyes.
Yet I don’t write a poem.
If people make a hurried request,
I smile with a glint of mischief.
“what’s the hurry?”, I reply,
“I’ll write when I feel like”.

Now and then my mind soars,
Far beyond the horizon of crimson desires,
A precious breeze blows,
My unwritten poems embrace me,
In a playful mood,
Like the waves on the bosom of a river.
These words yet to be born,
Like flowers half grown, leave me,
Only to come back, time and again…

From Wednesday evening.the rain god(s) went beserk.we got some food packed and got it home, me completely drenched. The rain which started on wednsday evening, didnt pause even for a minute all through thursday. Chennai was completely shut on thursday. Our situation was more horrible. There was no power all through the day. With heavy rain pouring outside, we didnt dare to step out. after much deliberation, we decided to cook the lunch. my cousin suggested the boon vegetable for all bachelors..ie.,. Potato. and i asked, "ok..potato.And???"...with a frozen look..half-open mouth, he asked " And aa? is that not enough..oye! this is not ur home... One curry and 2 pickles and something like Kandhi-podi...that will suffice..dont expect full-course meal with 12 items now.." Rice and potato curry happened,he had "Asalaina Vantakam"(if you dont know what that is..Pity!!) and Mango pickle. Had lunch and slept like logs, with oting to do. It was like a solitary confinement.
In the evening, though the rain didnt pause, we dared to go out to get some groceries but..as i said..Chennai was completely shut. fortunately, we could find one supermaket open, and bought some eatable stuff like Ready-to-cook packets etc.,. drenching ourselves again..top to bottom.We heated the left-over rice, and few Ready-to-prepare Chapathis. fortunately, without drivingus more mad, the power was restored by the time we came back. so, we watched the news..the pictures of chennai being marooned and all..thank god, i cancelled my tickets. anyway, the trains were all cancelled. after dinner, we watched parineeta on his laptop. the movie was ok, a lot of drama though. in between i had to message a few friends of mine...

The shock came the next morning(ie.,. today morning..).the balance in my mobile dropped down by 110 bucks...all for just 3 messages i sent... i could have as well made a call. bastards!!!!

In all, the chennai trip was one adventure...with drives in rain ( in short..D-rain..).perhaps i will be the only soul, on this earth, who has the record of going to chennai and not eating Sambhar.Longing to go to home sweet home.

we have our Bus tickets booked for today evening and i hope the rain doesnt disrupt it.

i can change the title to "Monsoon Chronicles" infact...because, from the moment Go(which means my landing time)- it has been drizzling and raining in chennai. Something fantastic preceded my landing in chennai.I woke up in the train, just before landing in chennai, only to find that my shoes are missing. Some bastard might have stealthily picked them up overnight.adidas shoes..just 1 and half year old...now, after going back to hyderabad, i need to digest my Dad's helpless look (now! i need to buy u one more pair of shoes!!!!)

It is like Yuccckkkk to walk barefoot..that too in a railway station. isnt it? for a moment, i said "Swamiye Saranam ayyappa" to myself and continued. Reached my couisn's flat(@ Nungambakam) in an auto rick.the very first look of his 2-bedroom flat, as soon as i opened the door, is omething i can never forget.newspapers thrown here and there...empty covers..dust..it looked like a typical bachelor's room...at its shabbiest-best.
Finishing usual morning-do's we headed for a food-outlet to have Andhra Bhojanam. had to clear so many one-ways, that i got confused. The food was decent enough, after which he dropped back at his flat. Spent the whole day at his flat. In the evening, we went to this place called "Kabul". what a name isnt it? I thought it will definitely have some pakistani cuisine.but it had indian cuisine only..then the name??? never mind..My cousin had a birthday treat to dispose and had my hunger to kill. His invitees were his colleagues. Each of them stays alone in chennai, enjoying bachelorhood...with a nice salary to spend away. must admit, i was really jealous.
The food was good. if you are wondering how could manage without footwear, i leased my cousin's shoes.
The next day, tuesday that was, was an adventurous one. i dropped my cousin at his office and went on to explore the city( as if it is some antarctica..)..my cousin gave me one golden mantra for the day ,"Nungambakam Eppadi Ponnu?"...that should be my question to go back home, after i get tired with chennai roads. i just drove along the straight road from his office(which is at nandanam) and crossed the Mount road. To the left i came across the famous Spencer's Plaza, the fame of which i wanted to check out.its a huge Mall with too many directions to follow..i mean, phase-1, phase-2, phase-3 and then again ground floor, first floor and all...i checked the most important outlets like Landmark(books and music etc.,.) and Planet-M etc.,. This is the 1st time that i visisted a book/music shoppe and got out without buying anything. i didnt have the patience to check out the other outlets spencer plaza, and within no time(which means after 2 hrs), i was drving in the same direction...STRAIGHT. after crossing a certain traffic point, suddenly there was no life around me. i mean, i noticed that there was not a single soul around me and i was driving all alone on that road which looked like a Run-way of an airport. i drove further down and landed at a place called chennai port. Took a U-turn and was driving slowly. all along the footpath, there were some chota-mota shops like we find Koti and all. Electronic goods, Cds etc were sold. Thanks to my curiousity, i just checked out. there were tonns and tonns of English movie cds, hindi mp3s and all. every guy, from each stall, asked me " BF vendaa??original..super clarity irukku". ok! so this the market place for ahem...desi stuff...i said "illa..vendaa vendaa"..and just drove back to the flat..using my mantra "Nungambakam eppadi ponnu". On the way, i had Idly & Uthappam at a place called Murugan Idly shoppe, sugested by my cousin.it was good.
The evening was quite good. i picked up my cousin(now i understood the map well..with one-ways and all..). we headed for Beasant Road,across adyar...which is a long drive..we cancelled my return ticket, as my journey got postponed by 1 day.next destination was "Adayar Beach". The time was 7:45pm. Sitting there in dark and watching the sea..or rather those few white-foamy waves hitting the beach..the gushh sound...an ambience good enough to think...introspect..retrospect..and even meditate..

To be continued...

A saturday so unusual. I was Good Morning-ed from sleep , by Padmasanigaaru, Chinmayi's Mom.after a cool 30min tele-chat, Padmasanigaaru ,being her usual nice-self, invited me over to the Hotel in which they were/are staying, ITC Kakatiya.she invited me to the "A Time For Heroes" function, an AIDS Awareness event organised by Hollywood actor Richard Gere with Parameshwar Godrej, in collaboration with actors Kamal Haasan & Chiranjeevi. Chinmayi was to sing a song in this event, for which they have been flown in to hyderabad. Padmasani aunty( i think i can call her so...here on..) actually wanted me to accompany them to the rehearsals at the venue(Gachibowli Stadium), but since there was not much time left, i insisted on meeting them at the Hotel, after their rehearsals.

At 1:30pm, she promptly called me up and told that she procured One entry-pass for me(how nice of her...if you are reading this...thanks again padmasani aunty..)and asked me to drop in before 4:45pm. by 3:40pm, i was on my bike, driving to begumpet. But at secunderabad, my bike started behaving strangely. It wouldnt start. i was running out of time and bloody thing had to trouble me there...at that time..finally, i got the problem solved with a mechanic there , thankfully..but wait!i dont have a reason to smile.... can you believe it...i was left with only Rs.10/-.

i reached there by 4:30pm and was waiting for chinmayi & padmasani aunty at the lobby hall, as they were on their way to the hotel. They entered the hotel , talking to a 20-21 yr old girl(later..i learnt that it was shriya). I met them(they were little shocked..they said "u look quite different in the pic...") and went to her room. Had a chit-chat with them there,over a coffee, while chinmayi had to go through a very crucial and tough ordeal of the day...much tougher than the rehearsal i think...she had to get ready for the concert...and trust me friends! to come up with that presentable appearance isnt a joke. whoa! Time & patience...both are essentials.finally, after 6:30 or so, we were in the car...to the venue.

Padmasani aunty asked me to find myself a seat there, while she and chinmayi went to the back-stage/green-room for final preparation. found empty chairs in the 5th row itself and i patiently listened to the sermons given by our Chief Minister and co. ..Meanwhile, Padmasani aunty located me in the crowd and asked me to follow her...to the backstage. She said,"come, have a closer glimpse of Richard Gere". saw him...and then..Kamal Haasan...and we returned back to the seats.Really sweet of her for having taken up so much trouble for me.

The Ministers left the place after the sermons..i was shocked that our Ministers didnt even bother to felicitate Richard Gere for the remarkable work he was doing.Anyways, the show started..the usual star-event it was..with actors talking about AIDS sandwiched between dance sequences by actors/actresses.Chiranjeevi(his looks subtract his age by 15yrs) invited Kamal Haasan and got some AIDS-doubts clarified, the best among them was the question: "Does Lip-Lip kissing play a hand in transmitting the disease?" ..Kamal asked ,"why is everyone asking me?" to which Chiranjeevi said,"because you really are an authoritative person to clarify this doubt".The audience broke into peals of laughter and Kamal responded,"i think Richard gere is more authoritative than me.." (btw, if u have the same doubt...rest assured...it doesnt transmit..)

After introducing Gere , lot of song/dances happened..Sunita Sarathy sang "Fanaa" & "Anjaana " from yuva(in tamil ofcourse)...and then, Chinmayi sang "Oru Daiva thantha" from "Kannathil Muthamittal". It was simply awesome. She just razed the performance of other singers who sang before her(personal opinion..).i was completely Floored. I had to just bow, when she came back to sit with us(Myself, Padmasani aunty and singer Mahathi's Mom).Mahathi also performed well. i wonder why our composers are not using these voices..chinmayi, mahathi...especially when they perform so well.

One more significant item was a composition which raised my eye-brows.Surprised because the song was really good and i never had high regard (for that matter...any regard) for the composer. he is R.P.Patnaik.his song,with kids, was really good.
Many actors/actresses spoke about AIDS and some HIV+ve patients were brought to the dias too..they were all smiles.Somehow u feel a pinch to believe that those smiling faces..cant smile for long...Some clippings were also shown.Must admit, Richard Gere has been/is doing atleast something to help out the victims and bring an awareness. Commendable is an understatement. i dont know if "Heroes" is really the word to be used for the title, but he is definitely one.

After many more song/dances, most of them being Dapppaaxx, Kamal Haasan & Malayalam actor Jayram surprised everyone with their percussion presentation.though it was for only 3 mins, it was really surprising to see Kamal on Ghatam & Jayram on Mridhangam, that too playing decently well. And then, a 7 year old kid, came up with Drums/Jazz trap kit. Kamal & Jayram were giving him the tala in nattuvangam style and that kid played drums like a professional. for 5mins, it was like a Jugalbandhi between Kamal's Notes & Jayram's notes, with the kid playing both.The kid proved that he is a junior Sivamani in the making.

The icing on the cake was the Grand Finale song. Composed by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja ( he was to attend this concert, according to suntv news...but i dont know why he didnt turn up..i was very eager to see him..but..disappointed!!..his son Kaarthikraaja attended).I can use just one phrase to describe the song: Simply Superb..(please take it for granted that i have used other adjectives ..from the Roget's thesaurus). beautiful composition. Also, it is the 1st multilingual composition by him. The song started in English and each charanam covered each of the south-indian languages and finally ended in english again. what a song it was!, a wonderful fusion of western & indian classical. though the track was played in the background, all the artists,actors,actresses together hummed this song on the stage.This is the 1st time i saw a Hollwood actor singing an Ilaiyaraaja song.Raaja Sir! hats off (for the Nth time..)

After the concert, myself,padmasani aunty & chinmayi came back to the hotel. i bye-bye-ed them..drove back...and here i am keying this, still trying to remember the tune of that song.Alas! i dont...which means my next objective is to get that song. How!! let me see..

Padmasani aunty! your first comment on my blog was in "Saturday Night in Hyderabad". and this saturday night, thanks to you,its different.
Thanks to Chinmayi also. hoping to have another argument(if it was one :) ...) soon...

and thank God.. with only 10 bucks in my pocket, i didnt face any trouble in the night.

The platform of this small station..
looks nearly deserted...
trains halt here briefly.
You've come all the way,
to see him off,
eager to see him as long as possible,
before distance takes him out of your sight.
you look upon the train, as a cruel carrier-away,
of the one you love.
Why blame the train,dear friend?

The bellman rings the bell,
the guard blows his whistle,
and waves his green flag.
not so close, the wheels move.
Wipe your tears, for they break his heart,
this parting is sad... sadder are your tears.
bid him farewell with a smile,
thinking of the day,
when you'll meet him again...

Epilogue:

The path and the almond tree...
where he came to you, that day, with two roses,
one in hand..one in heart.
he offered the one in his hand..
and you...lacked the art...
to ask -- "is the other one too , for me?"
yellow leaves fell from the bough of almond tree..
and he went away, only to come back..
to offer the other one too..

At the same path, under the same almond tree..
he touched you...
the same palm..
with which he used to caress your cheeks,
and often held your hand...
the same palm which he stretched out of the train..
"is it a good-bye? or a call?" , you thought that day,
for your tears blurred your sight.
with the same palm, he held the rifle,
and fought the enemies in war..
played the game of blood in raining bullets..
Wont you go to that path my friend..that almond tree...
he has now come back, for you...
with a bunch of flowers,
in the same palm.
Will you discern sparks of fire there?

Date : 16th october.
Place: Hyderabad.
Time : All evening & night.

Myself -->

Busy with : Financial Management.(exam tomorrow).

Date : 16th october.
Place: Chennai.
Time: All evening and night.

Ilaiyaraaja-->

Busy with : Live Concert, with his entire troupe...which include his current favourite singers/musicians(shreya goshal, sadhana sargam, etc.,.) & also erstwhile ones(sivamani,uma ramanan, puroshotham..etc.,.).

Verdict : It is nothing Fate's cruel Game.

Atonement: Concert will be telecasted on TV (Jaya-TV), on diwali.

Like the blush of a shy sky,
which heralds the beautiful dawn,
touching every speck of the universe,
with autumnal magic…

like the sparkle of sunshine,
which enlightens the tiny droplets,
Embellishing each spectrum,
With rainbow hues…

Each whisper of your voice,
Adorned with tenderness,
Ornaments my soul with ethereal love…

Like the wisp of fragrance,
Which infuses the balming breeze,
Refreshing each fragment,
With energizing exhilaration…

Like the caress of a moonlight,
Resplendent with a silvery glow,
Which bedecks the tranquil night,
With placid incandescence…

Each tremor of your joy,
Bubbles as my happiness,
With eager enthusiasm.

Each caress of your love,
Embraces my innermost being,
And tickles the spirit of life,
With exquisite bliss…

My search is still on, my quest is still on…
In pursuit of new images I move,
Across the silent avenues of my mind.
Now and then, searching and etching,
Few verses, bright and dark, on its sky,
With the pens of various thoughts,
The recollections of which, I try hard,
To weave them with words into a poem.
But all the while, I fail to discern,
Their true colours and contours,
And my hands tremble on empty pages,
Aching to paint the images hidden in my thoughts.

All I sketch is the same image,
Sometimes distorted, sometimes disheveled,
Sometimes in disguise and even upside down.
Swift I try to make my pursuit,
But the destinations of new images seem afar,
Every image I created so far,
With its successive shadows and repeating reflections,
Hark and reverb in multiple tones,
That search is more important that destination.
And I reflect back with a – “perhaps”,
To such a lovely lame excuse,
In yet another image, yet another poem,
Artless though, like this one,
Keeping my search on, keeping my quest on…

Two birds… in a nest.
One bird seeks to fly,
Even beyond the sky,
There time doesn’t flow,
And life smiles bright,
Beyond the shadows of death.
The desires of earth and heaven,
Formless and limitless,
Blossom in one bunch.

The other bird has no desire,
Either to fly or to cross the horizon,
The love of its little ones,
Ties it to the nest.
Yet how these two birds,
Inhabit the same nest?
What strange love,Binds their hearts?

The Natal Breeze...that whirls around...
collecting the elixir...that your lips pour upon..
flowering itself...
only to swing to your breath...
which curls across my eyes...
lifting my spirits...to catch the skies...

penned by : Anonymous.

how many people wrote/write poetry? some sing poetry..some compose poetry. but once, in India, a great man expressed poetry through light & sound. every part/aspect of this expression is soaked in poetry.and for years to come, it shall remain as benchmark.

Gibran said it right : "we live only to discover beauty. all else is just a form of waiting.."

i am watching it...the beauty...and i am going mad.

Tonight, Mughal-E-Azam is being telecasted in TV.

Finally, my computer is back to life..( only my computer...not me..).it took long time for me to bring it back. the last week was drained completely in frustration,spent so much money, because some problem or the other kept the system down. finally, yesterday night, it began its 2nd innings. and internet was restored today.

Saturday!!!! what a day it is...the weekend leisure has a very sprighty mood..because sunday is a holiday.my saturday morning was a way different. Instead of casuals, i was in complete formals..driving to school...somewhere near Parklane, one Santro Car was honking continuously. due to traffic, i couldnt give way to him and he kept on honking.he wasnt blind. he could see the traffic. still, i didnt/dont understand what sublime sadism he's got.
Had many group discussions today in school.having finished lunch and a meeting, i landed in Comp. Lab to gather some information/data so that i can start my Macroeconomics assignment.by 4:30pm, i finished my work and was quite charged up as its been real long time since i went home early.
4:40pm...the bike doesnt start..after many kicks..i took it to a mechanic nearby..he checked it and said that it'll take atleast 1 hour to fix the problem...ie.,. i was asked to come by 6:00pm.
well! he took more time and 6:45pm..vehicle delivered..and i start off..cursing the day...having successfully crossed the traffic-jam @ punjagutta, i breathed a sigh of relief..only to be welcomed by another jam at Paradise...this time, atleast 6 pple behind me irritated me with their honking..one chap was honking for a continuous 15secs..my ear-drum couldnt take anylonger..i closed..my ears..eyes and was imagining a scene where i go to him..open his car-door, pull him out..and chop his right hand..till the elbow..but wait! he's not the only one..there were so many bastards there...who could see that nothing was moving or there was no space anywhere..still..were honking their horns out..thats the civic sense of hyderabadis...and let me tell u...this is not new...the continuous honk disturbs and distresses ur mind so much that u can really feel the head-ache hitting u...seriously, i feel like killing them..like..hacking them to death..but killing a life for loud-honking is too much..so, i feel like chopping a hand...to atleast shooting their tyres so that they cant move even when the traffic is cleared...
and then...after abusing(well! i must admit..i used all the gaalis i know..and then realized that i should learn more..) atleast a dozen guys there..i come out of the war..after a nice 30mins..my back already started to complain..and then, near my place…I have a railway crossing…the line-man there usually closes the gate atleast 8 mins before the arrival of the train..(if u think 8mins is reasonable..think again…its too long..) and he opens the gate atleast 3-4mins after it cross the gate..which means..he will open it only when he sees it going out of his line-of-sight..probably he fears that it may come back suddenly..whatever…I landed at the gate at 7:50 or so..train passed sometime between 7:55 & 8:00...meanwhile..the traffic at one side locks its head(s) with the traffic at the other side..like, vehicles at one side occupy the complete road leaving no space for the vehicles at the other side to pass-by..so, when this happens on both sides..where is the room to go…I waited…watched..8:05..i watched..8:10.....(.the honking didn’t stop..)and finally..after 20mins(only), I could drive out…and reach home by 8:30pm.

If you guys think that this was a unique day, for which I am putting it on blog…NO!! its a routine..it happens atleast twice or thrice a week (except the vehicle repair)..its only that my comp is back to life..so is my internet and I wanted to get back to blogging…but after a wonderful day, my faculties are dead and hence i' posting my (typical) expience..with all this frustration, it is more frustrating to open financial accounting text book..isn’t it? Cant help it…got a test on Monday..and 3 other assignments to submit…looks like I cant sleep early tonight..how can I? Being in hyderabad...amidst bastards & bitches…

Don’t mind..Just Venting out..

Probably, one of those few ones which speaks my mind. and ofcourse it vindicates the fact that i am a true Gemini.Very Much.

Those flowers you are collecting,
Of blooming joys and ecstasies,
And also the ones with fragrant petals,
Are they to adorn my life?
But you must know that,
The ones I am collecting,
Similar to your flowers,
Are for the many,
For those who are seen in glimpses,
Dwell in lands unexplored,
And live in my songs.
I know not, if it is late or early,
To ask for my heart in return for yours.
At times my life is like a bud,
With perfumes to hide,
And at times it is squandered far and wide.
The enchantments, now and then,
Gather and scatter in a hurry.
O’ fair one, my heart is not mine,
To give it to only one,
It is given to the many.

Epilogue for my friend:

Those Flowers!! Bloom with fragrances all along ur journey of life..
and even after, when they adorn u as wreathe!
Life afterall, my friend, is just a journey,
of a tender fragrance called Breath!

one day i asked my youth,
"tell me! why is it that there is passion in your eyes?"..
my youth replied,"i dont know what that wild flower was,
whose wine i drank, and it filled passion in my eyes.."
"but not all accede to the passion in your eyes!",
i remarked.
my youth replied,
"well! some are wise and some foolish,
some are watchful and some are careless.
there are eyes that smile...and eyes that weep
-- but the charms of the wild flower were so seductive,
that they filled inexhaustible passion in my eyes..."

my youth then asked me,
"why does your heart stand still under my shadow?"
i replied,"my feet are tied to rhapsodic rhythms of my heart,
which endlessly throb to your enthralling songs..
and my heart stands still under your shadow."
my youth remarked,
"but not all hearts and feet throb endlessly to my songs.."
i smiled,
"well! some march on their way and some linger
some are free amd some are fettered...
there are feet that stagger, and feet that ride away on the crest of time,
but mine are tied to rhapsodic rhythms of my heart,
and my heart stands still under your shadow."

this never happened before, that i am reposting same writing again. so, it shows that even i have fallen in the recycling-trap. perhaps i would have written the same thing again, intact,same words..same phrases..if i had to write it today, to reflect the thoughts jammed in my mind.and i did exactly that.even before i could realize, i (re)wrote this one in my Financial Management Note Book, for some strange-inevitable-unknown reason..still eluding me.

like a companion, my shadow used to live with me.
but we have now divorced each other.

ever since my feet took me into dark trenches,
like a jilted lover,
it began grumbling dementedly,
that i no longer sought its companionship.

i quetched in return,
that i could walk alone,
in the bright paths, full of light...
but in dark, when i needed a companion,
it abandoned me, without leaving any trace.

my companion used to live with me,but..
my shadow and me--we have divorced each other now.

And the guy sitting next to me read it and asked,"heard about divorcing wife, but how can you divorce your shadow?".

Among my thoughts, like a beautiful bride,
Poetry lights a lamp of bliss I hide.
Spraying moonlight perfumes, the shy moon beams,
Through the autumn veils of almond leaves,
Planting blue kisses on my eyes.
Every star studded behind the silvery edges of clouds,
As if the dark hands of ethereal sky,
Are adorned with diamond rings.
The still languor of the dizzy dew,
Contemplating for the careless caresses of the dawn…
Blind breezes brewed with jasmines,
Harping winter melodies, long forgotten,
Ceaselessly throbbing from their composer’s breath,
Touching my mood with placid incandescence,
Amidst which, my songs are lost to their depths,
In the gardens of nature and my emotions.
"Perhaps I share an emotional kinship with nature",
My thoughts assure me with pride...
Among those thoughts, like a beautiful bride,
Poetry lights lamps of bliss, I can no longer hide…

i rarely find time to blog(element of guilt)...though the urge is there..but now and then, i revisit some thoughts which make me dust my shelf/book...(in my mind..)..

And then..

Sometimes words don’t sit on paper,
In my mind they move endlessly,
Just like bubbles in space.
Constellating around, they appear to me,
And with my mind, through the bubble-like-words,
I see a world convexed.

Afraid to see it and its stark realities,
I break the bubbles moving, with my pen,
By penning few words on paper.
When all is done, when my poem is done,
The world I see appears normal,
And I close my notebook, contended.

But during night, in a stillness of moment,
They rise again, from my notebook, like bubbles,
And start to constellate again,
In the galaxy of my dreams,
Giving me new nightmares of the world.
Perhaps a nightmare is just a dream convexed.
What to do? Words sometimes just don’t sit on paper,

And I am vexed seeing a world convexed...

YES :

No ridges.. no skies...
Wayward dreams melted in cries...
Life afresh from nothing..
Hopes of future still chasing something...

BUT STILL :

Fantasies play hard and wild..
propositions pushing all the while..
now a man..now a child...
When hopes begin to dry Futile..

And Then :

The world seems new again.
a new me..out in chase...
new clouds..few dreams.. and some rain...
Journey of life...just a Maze..

i am tired seeing my blog..unused...agreed,that the culprit is me! but still...

sometimes i have a feeling that everything will reach a saturation point and then vanish in a jiffy. perhaps the monotonous and mundane routine entraps us so much that one fine day we give u on blogs...but wait! ithink the very purpose of coming up with blogs was o get out of monotonous and mundane routine..well, though not completely..but partly... does itmean that the very cause can become the effect..the result..or the outcome.

i come back to the basic question, why do i blog? i dont know...i know that i write..or rather i used to write..frequently..and thought of putting them on one page..hence blog...but these days i dont find time to even write...before people start knocking it down as a lame excuse, i must justify that i havent been finding time to have nice sleep...i forget my breakfast on the table..i dont find time to get some 'dear' things repaired ( mp3 player, computer..)..and gosh! of all..i now remembe..i am living without music... nothing can be more worse...
but still, there is always a player..playing music...of my choice..that is in my mind..and trust me, what a fantasic music library my mind has (as every human mind.).. i find it amusingfor myself when i can sing out not just the primary-melody but also the interludes, counter melodies..every note...is just stored... and yes there is an ensemble in my mind..
now when this orchestra plays...i lose myself..and people think i am mad..ok..make it crazy..they pity me..somebody tell them that i pity them too...

anyways...this is the most notorious blog of mine...becoz i wote this casually..just to see some bloody update on my page...
shoot me if this nonsense (as it is..) killed ur productive time.

Ok... though i posted my comments for last blog, in a hurry, i felt more can be added...i wanted to add yesterday but i forgot..and vidya already did it..hilarious one that too..anyways, just saw that and i recollected few...hence a post.. these are really weird ones..read on :

quote: Samastha Bhoobhaaramunu moyu oh vaaralaaraa!!
my take : vaaralaara enti vaadi moham! ayina..samastha bhoobhaaram vaallekkada mosthunnaru!

quote: randu! naa yoddha ku randu! paralokapu thaalam chevi ni meeku icchedhanu!
my take : randu enti...pundu laaga! and paralokam emanna pakkilllaa..veededho thaalaalu pettukuni koorchunnaadaa!

quote: parisuddha parisuddha parisuddha prabhuvaa! (this is a song)
my take : parisuddha prabhuvaa enti! as if he is just coming out of a bathroom..having a bath after aeons..

quote : "dendhamaanandha andhamaa nandha mandhagaanamu" my take : chaala!! inkaa paathika (25) antinchu..needhem poyindhi! quote: vivaahamu anni vishayamulalokalla ghanamainadhigaa enchabadiyunnadhi hebru 13:14
my take : adhentoghanamainadhi ta! cheppedhi oka thokkalo theory...paigaa dhaaniki bodi reference(hebru 13:14) okati... ( ee references are common finds on the walls of church near Golconda X roads..they write hebru ento..adhento thittu laagaa untundhi)

quote : achata baadha lo padiyunna aa gorre pillanu choopi prabhuvu ilaa anenu.."samastha bhoobhaaramu moyu o vaaaralaara..itu choodumu..ee pasi gorre pillanu baadha ninchi vidipinchumu..dhaaniki vimukthi kalugacheyyumu.."
my take : next scene..dhaaniki kosuku thintaaru! evadanna dhaanini rakshinchumu antaaru..varietygaa veellu vimukthi prasaadhisthaaru..

quote : neevu undamatti..nenu puttamatti..(because of the fact that u exist..that i was born)
my take : erra matti vinnanu..nalla matti vinnanu..idhem matti! quote : o paapulaara!! my take : ee lambikodukki andharoo paapuley!

quote : prabhuvu yokka rakthamu che nee yokka paapamulu kadukkuni maanava jaathi yokka mariyu prabhuvu yokka goppadhanamunu prapanchamunaku chaatinacho agnaanamu anubadu cheekati ninchi vimukthi chendhi paralokapu saanthi ni pondhuvani cheppabadi yunnadhi..(hebru 63:66)
my take : asalu enni "yokka" lu raa babu..it reminds me of "kin kun yokka lon lopalun" (which vibhakthi is this?) ..and paralokapu saanthi enti vaadi bondha!! mallee.. last but not the least : YOHOWA ae naa mithrudu (u find this on many auto ricks in hyd)
my take : yohowa! ta( doesnt it sound like the name of some japanese or korean film-maker...or atleast a sumo-wrestler..definitely inspired by kurusowa)..and inkevaroo mithrulu leraa vaadiki! thats it folks..prabhuvu mimmalanu karininchugaaka! (ani cheppabadiyunnadhi) (hebru: 24:27)

It happened long ago...when time was not even born.

Life ruled and Death became envious.
Death came and killed Life..after which Rebirth was born.
Since then, Life & Death have never been on talking terms.

someone said it "old shelves need to be dusted".. so counting on that i am doing the best of what i can do now..instead of posting a new writing on my blog, i am posting an old one..ok..slapdashrandom will remind me that blog is not supposed to be a "history text book", but easy! now and then, when i revisit same thoughts (or ice versa)..i revisit the same writing.. though i have a lot to putup..i am unable to squeeze out time to colour my thoughts..so, just to be in league, here is my (old) sin.

Dusk hour, sinking sun on orange skyline,
The dying rays of red glimmering dim,
On the still shimmer sheets of water.
Walking on the steady stretches of sand,
Bemused by the boatman ballads,
I coax my mind to a cold calmness,
But weird waves of wayward thoughts,
With many unanswered questions,
Rise restlessly, splashing on its shores,
Casting a shadow of mute melancholy.

But a wondrous wave wildly dissolves them,
Urging me get over the gloom,
For the answers I seek are hidden playfully,
In the taut and titillating trenches of time,
Carelessly camouflaged by illusions and realities,
Where each answer opens by itself,
From the childish choices I chance upon.

But now, why brood over burdensome boredom,
Pondering pensively over perplexing puzzles of life,
When trivial elements of ethereal enchantments,
Pass by me seamlessly, now and then,
Enticing me to enlive each moment,
With the joys of a kind, outlasting themselves.

I enjoy the raining moonshine, spraying on daffodils,
The boatman ballads, the butterfly kisses,
The dark sky studded with a shy starshine,
The mellow moods of music and words,
And my own breath, jeweled with a joy,
Of having a lovely liaison with life,
With smiles to share, with the ones I care,
With hopes and dreams woven in the desires of delight.
All these touch my life with intimate warmth,
In the changing colours of my thoughts,
All the while reminding me in repeated chime,
To take care of my spare moments,
For they are the golden dust of time…

The latest on my blog...is the link to another blog..thats by me too..exclsively for music..thats because i frequently write/post articles about music..and thought i can do that in a separate blog..where others too can contribute.
http:musicmavericks.blogspot.com is the blog where i would be posting articles, interviews, music reviews,tributes and even personal experiences..when i am enamoured by any composition...and yes, the mavericks here are all, composers, lyricists and singers..who essenially form the musicmakers..

in short..all my thoughts..from the music rooms of my mind...fly in there..

keep checkin.

I guess i have already started promoting Thiruvasakam By Ilaiyaraaja (refer my previous blogs). With the project due for release ths month, not much has been done so far, through Media, for promotion due to lack of funds. and few people have taken that responsibility so that music lovers dont miss out a unique album. i am one of them and doing my part, to promote the album. here is a what i wish to put up today.

what exactly is Thiruvasakam?

Thiruvasakam is a set of 51 divinely inspired verses composed by the Shaivaite Saint Manickavasagar. The special significance of the Thiruvasakam is its poetic beauty and the profound emotion it creates while just reading the verses.

Maestro Ilaiyaraaja set music to this sacred text, with grand orchestral-choral backing. though started as symphony, Ilaiyaraaja later clarified that it is not a symphony completely, although it employs some of the elements, but an Oratorio. and Thirusvasakam By Ilaiyaraaja(TBI) can be called as the 1st Indian Oratorio.He used the Budapest Symphony Orchestra for this project, along with many chorus singers from India, Hungary and America(Broadway Singers).

This project has been on since over 2 years. though the composition didnt take so much time(he took a little over 20 days to compose), it was the recording and other issues which delayed the project. the main issue was the funds. This project is financed completely by charity-funds only. and as the recording/mastering needed lot of money, frequent hiccups were inevitable, due to which the project took lot of time to reach completion. TBI is produced by Tamil Maiyam, a registered non-profit tax-exempt organization in India, committed to bring out high quality productions in Tamil art, culture and literature. Tamil Maiyam is led by Fr.Jegath, who is also the principal coordinator of this project. The US activities of this project are managed by the Thiruvasakam in Symphony foundation led by Dr. Sankar Kumar (www.tis-usa.com ).The TIS USA team has done a commendable job in advancing this project.The members of Ilaiyaraaja's Yahoogroup were among the first people to support the project.

Other Key-Players :

Mr. Laszlo Kovacs (Conductor): This Hungarian born musician, well known all over Europe is the Conductor of Thiruvasakam in Symphony. Winner of several prestigious music awards he conducts on an average of 80 concerts every year. In a music carrier spanning almost 40 years he has conducted more than 2500 concerts in 21 countries, which include performances with the celebrated London Royal Philharmonic and Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 1998 he is a regular accompanist to Eva Marton.

Budapest Miskolc Symphony Orchestra: This 100 year old group is considered the only complete professional Orchestra of Hungary. All it’s 84 regular players are graduates from the Academy of music. For the last 29 years this orchestra has played the National New Year concert for Hungary. It’s uniqueness is it’s tremendous ability to adapt from the Baroque music to contemporary compositions. This acclaimed orchestra has played for Thiruvasakam in Symphony.

Mr.Richard King (Sound Engineer): Mr. Richard King who works for the Sony Music Studios, New York is a phenomenon in the contemporary music industry. At a young age of 37 he has recorded and mixed five Grammy Award winning productions. They include the Oscar award winning Crouching Tiger - Hidden dragon, double Grammy winner - Abrigade Brazil, Benstein: West side story suite, Appalachian Journey and the Brahms/Stravinsky: Violin Concertos. Mr. Richard King who also holds a Masters in Music from the McGill University is rated as one of the ablest and sensitive sound engineers in the world today.

Stephen Schwartz: At the age of 20 he wrote the title song for the play ‘Butterflies are Free’. And at the age of 23 he wrote the lyrics for the double Grammy award winning God spell. Today he is the No 1 play write in the Broadway theatres. His immortal productions are Baker’s wife, Children of Eden, Pocahontas, The Prince of Egypt, Reluctant Pilgrim, Unchartered Territory and the recent musical ‘Wicked’, that opened in the 2003 fall at Broadway. He has translated lyrics of Thiruvasakam into English.

The Project : Music Maestro Ilaiyaraaja has composed music combining the spirit of Indian music and the harmony of symphonic format to lyrics from the famed Tamil spiritual classic Thiruvasakam. The first release is a 60 minutes CD / Audio tape which would also include one lengthy song with English lyrics in the oratorio style. A Complete Symphony Orchestra and more than 100 choral singers feature in this album, making it a first of its kind in Indian music history. The releases in other languages would follow depending on the success of this first initiative.

The album will primarily have 60 minutes of 'Thiruvasakam'. Out of it, a single song (Sivapuranam) will be running for 20 minutes and it is for this one that English is included. This will be like a counterpoint in which Maestro sings one main track containing Manickavasagar's verses in Tamil and another English singer will sing its counterpart in English in another main track. The total output will be something interesting yet clear for comprehension. The other 40 minutes are divided among the other songs, which are the original Tamil verses of Manickavasagar only. Only one song among them will contain accompanying percussion. Others will have the symphony orchestra's backing alone!

Some comments: Quoting Mr.Richard King, "Having now heard the entire work completely in one sitting, I can tell you that you [Raaja] have created a wonderful piece of music - very beautiful and interesting music, with spiritual and contemplative overtones - Bravo."

Quoting Mr.StephenSchwartz ," Last night, at Sony studios in New York City, I hadthe pleasure of hearing the almost finished mix ofIlayaraaja's amazing work. It is unlike anything I've never heard before, a stunning blend of Indian and western music and instruments. I asked Mr Raja if this was something different for him too, and he said he had never done anything like this piece before. I don't know if anyone has. So I believe those of you looking forward to this are in for a great treat. The section to which I contributed English words is about twenty minutes long and dovetails back and forth between Mr Raja singing in Tamil and an American singer singing in English, plus there is a large and beautifully produced chorus. Mr Raja's orchestrations are superb, and the recording engineer, Richard King, has done a spectacular job sonically. I felt so very proud to be a small part of this project."

RELEASE : "Thiruvasagam by Ilaiyaraaja" will be released on June 30, 2005 in a grand event to be held at the Music Academy, Chennai. The CD will be released in the US, during the July 2-4 weekend in Dallas, Texas. More details expected soon. The work will be released in Tapes & Audio CDs priced at Rs.50/- & Rs.150/- respectively. apart from these, a special Collector's Edition pack( priced at Rs.250/-) would be released which would include Audio CD, a special booklet (contents yet to be known..mostly the lyrics) and an exclusive DVD (expected to contain "The Making Of TBI" and comments from celebrities and experts...not really sure.details awaited).

Buy/Order Online : mail to tamil_mai2000@yahoo.com (more details..shall be updated)

So, if any of you is interested, please promote this album, especially through friends and acquaintances who are music aficionados. Promoting it in music-schools(if you know any..like music departments in your respective universities) & other music clubs would be appreciated as this album is aimed at international audience too. the success of this album can prompt Ilaiyaraaja to come up with many more masterpieces(like the Symphony he composed for/played by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,London in 1990..i hope that gets released!!) and can fetch him the recognition he truly deserves...internationally.

LASTLY, I REQUEST ALL THE INTERESTED PEOPLE TO PURCHASE ORGINAL CDS/TAPES.

Saw the digi-clock on my blog? i saw it on chinmayi's blog...and borrowed the idea..thought it was cool...especially because Time has been/is one of the elements which i often use in some of my writings(senseless reason right!! still..buy it).

and let me use this oppurtunity to post an old one :-

When time tills the field of the sky,
With the plough of the moon,
Driven by the black bullock of darkness,
And sows the seeds of stars,
The golden harvest of the day..is reaped…

It’s the time when the lazy blue is tired,
And wore dark robes, sewn with diamonds.
Not a speck of moonshine around,
And a symphony of compassion plays in my sleep.
I hear many sounds in it.
The lullaby of a mother,
Casts a flicker of a joyful smile, playfully,
In the eyes of her child.
The ecstatic shriek of a lady,
In the warm embrace of her true love just found,
Reverbs in happy intervals!!! Celebration…
Amidst popping corks of Champaign bottles.
The song of burning hunger flaring loud,
From the red eyes of a hungry beggar,
Sinks into silence when a priest offers the bread in compassion.
The passionate cry of a sweet pain,
From the ignited limbs of a couple making love,
Infuses in their cold and trembling lips as they touch.
The words of solace from the lips of a doctor,
Light up the flame of faith, to save a life,
And a prayer of life-time is sung,
For the god in white coat.

I hear other sounds too.
The wail of a lady echoes far,
Till each tear-drop in her eyes becomes a sea,
Where each remembrance of September sorrows,
Is washed ashore.
The staggering song of the pain of a love lost,
Voices out from the drunken chords gulping death.
His shriek still reverbs, I know,
Because now and then, people made money, of his story.
A wayward song roams in street,
Sung by the youth lost in the charms of illusions,
Inviting death, as they lie drugged by their ECSTASY.
The high-pitched cry of a girl sounds aloud,
From her tightened veins, across the bylanes,
When her own kith and kin choke her soul.
A cold axe drives through the spine,
Blood is splattered in the name of structures,
And the scream vibrates the nation throughout,
Enticing people to slaughter in the name of god.

The dark robes of this night has them all.
People call it “NIGHT”, in which dwell,
The lullabies and shrieks of joy,
Prayers and songs of love,
Cries of pain, rape and death.
Is that why, in a symphony of compassion,
I hear an explosion in sleep,In this dark chilled night…

i am reproducing an interesting (but lengthy) article i came across in the internet. i read this one an year ago actually. Thiruvasakam By Ilaiyaraaja is just 1 month away (releasing on 26th june) and 30 days is long time for me.anyways, read on...

WHAT IS INDIAN SYMPHONY AND WHY IS THIRUVASAKAM IN SYMPHONY SPECIAL THAN OTHER FUSION MUSIC COMPOSITIONS?

MODERN MUSIC THOUGHTS IN MAESTRO ILAIYARAAJA


“If you are patient enough to read you may learn a lot I guess”


First of all Indian music’s foundations are horizontal structures called melody. Since it concentrates on melody alone enormous experiments were conducted by many generations, before several unknown centuries, to build up melodic systems and its usage.Western music’s specialty is it’s vertical structures, the harmony but also involves melody. The melody the west uses is different from the Indian melody because of the usage of scales and tones. Though the Indian musicians felt the harmony by mind while they created melodic compositions, they didn’t try to introduce harmony into their music systems and just concentrated on making the melodic usage more and more complex in its content and easier in its usage and understanding. There are certain ways and methods of music education by which Indian music education can be learnt in a decade but the to what extent is always a doubt because it has formatted a system for itself which includes all natural sound substances available in nature (which our ear hears) whereas the west operates on fixed sounds following an uniquely accepted music system all over the world “The chromatic scale system”. Though music is periodic and involves octaves (stayi), the number of scales (ragas) experimented by many folks is unimaginable and almost the Indian music grammar covers almost all harmonic contents of tones. For example the “Moving tones”(Gamakkam) where different types of shaking the fixed note (in relation to chromatic) takes place where different additions and omissions of harmonic contents may result in different ragas. Infact the truth is Melody is made up of harmony. Harmony is the mother of melody. The melody and harmony are inseparable. It’s a very tough concept to understand but it’s the truth.

Astounding!!! And that’s why to master Indian music it will take almost 3/4th of your life. Not only this there are many more complex rules, which minutely makes one raga different from other raga. For example the ascending and descending of scales (arohanam and avarohanam). The universal pentatonic scale is referred to “raga mohanam in Indian music” but to say the truth its different because of some more minute melodic (harmonic) details which chromatic fails to give. Many more complex rules govern Indian classical music system. As how difficult it’s to perform a grand symphony, it’s very very hard to become a genius in Indian classical music. Indian classical music is mastered by pundits who will always hesitate to enter the western classical domain as its one another tough music system.One can hardly point out music composers who are really really into both classical music domains.Maestro Ilaiyaraaja is therefore ahead of all music composers.Western classical composition and making grand symphony needs brainwork to harmonize the contents in brain and write as score. Mastering Indian classical to the maximum possible extent are not possible in ones life time of 80 years. Ilaiyaraaja has achieved this in 50 years. “Mel harmony by Ravikiran is great work left for humanity but still I doubt if Maestro Ravikiran can handle his own western classical symphonic composition and orchestration. Besides these Ilaiyaraaja has almost touched all parts of the world either jazz, blues, souls, Chinese or German folk all in his film scores.

His non-film albums like “chamber welcomes thiagarajar” is a blow for “Western classical musicians who believe that their music system is the greatest as the notes played in the composition will make one think if its fixed note or a moving note”. To say one more truth, the absolute pitch musicians don’t play the perfect pitch in reality. The vibrato which our ear like = absolute pitch+ a slight deviation from absolute pitch. If this slight deviation is not there, we wont like the sound. We like string effect.What happens in a string section of orchestra? Each string player play notes slightly deviating from the note on the score sheet. All these random pitch variations add up causing the effect, making us feel the great sound. So its not the argument that we humans like big sounds.

Mozart I love you is based on an assumption if “Mozart plays kalyani rag, I guess. Not sure of it. Watch the mathematical musician Bach playing moving notes.

“I met Bach in his house” is a fusion of Indian rag with Bach’s compositions.

Hear “You can't be free” and just you could not believe how Indian tones are harmonized with fixed tonal system. Listen how he tries to avoid fixed notes in weak accented beats thereby intelligently succeeds in harmonizing the raga with a string quartet. He introduces silence where fixed note can’t be harmonized with moving note (the gammkam).
“Song of the soul” is an Indian classical jazz-fusion.

The exceptional music composer’s compositions have gone unnoticed. The Illaiyaraja Grand symphony 1 is not released and the reason should be the attitude of Western classical musicians who could not hear anything other than that tones fixed in the London music conference, May 1939.

I hope folks can now understand who is Ilaiyaraaja and why he is special. There are many in the world that could write music by mind but most of them would be fixed note specialists. Ask them to write an Asian classical-Western classical fusion, they could not as what they believe as music is that 12 notes and that’s it.
Ilaiyaraaja can write for a total western classical orchestra and also for a fusion orchestra, which means all natural sounds, can be represented on sheet by his mind.

Do you now feel the difference? If you ask a question “Friend!! Many have did fusion music; my reply would be “sir! Most of the fusion would be fusion of either American and German or Russian and French all of which are based on fixed tonal system, which is of course quite possible if you could understand the music culture of both domains but this is a fusion of entirely different systems, which are strongly experimented in the past. Fusing folk with a classical system is great but also not as challenging as this “thiruvaskam in symphony” does as folk music is not much experimented with much grammatical expectations”. You are free to compose the way you want. You are free to mould the music, twist it the way you want. Western classical and blues, jazz-fusion is also kindred.

To me Ilaiyaraaja is the world’s best Composer because I think this way: What if Tamil is the world’s highly spoken language and Tamil culture is widely followed on earth. Mr.Thanikachalam is not going to say Mozart as the best composer and Mr.Parthasarathy is not going to mention “The Beatles music troupe”.

Ilaiyaraaja is the single sole man (not a music band of 4) who does all by himself from composition, arrangement, conducting to sometime even sitting in the console mixing tracks. His ideas ranges from Indian, western, American to computer music. If you could then argue there will be more competition and more talents, if Tamil becomes world’s highly used culture, I can take India musicians into account. Nobody in India has satisfied common man, Indian pundits and foreign pundits at the same time. Give me one great example I will accept my argument and surrender.But unfortunately you can’t even mention one such composer other than ilaiyaraaja and therefore my argument is proved. Ilaiyaraaja should be seen from different points to understand his genius. He is a special composer of our age and we are failing to give him the right acknowledgement.

For me stevie wonder is great composer and singer and I love his voice in “I just want to say I love you” but my culture want “yengae sellum indha padai” the maestro’s trademark voice in me. I’m from Indian culture and who is “Schubert for tom”, so is Ilaiyaraaja for me. Even if you throw out the culture discussion, 900 movies in a span of 25 years. All are not one and a half hour movies but 3 hours. All done in 3 to 10 days time. Neither Beethoven, Neither Michael Jackson, Neither Beatles, Neither Elvis Presley, James Horner could accomplish this. Leave out our local music composers; they haven’t touched all classical domains in the world.Don’t bring the old film works inspired by world musicians, which are few in number.That old ilaiyaraaja is gone before 20 years. Who is ilaiyaraaja now? How did he turn himself to a music colossus?

Ask a foreigner what is Indian music? He replies so naively “sitar and tabla music”. I don’t blame the genius of Ravi Shankar or zakir Hussein.Many argue thatthey were the musians who took our music to foreign. My answer to them is “No”. They didn’t take our music to them but they created a “Curiosity in foreigners about Indian music”. A theoretical explanation before a raga concert in “Ohio concert hall” will never make a foreigner understand our music but a practical composition made like thiruvasakam in symphony or “you can’t be free” or “study for violin” will achieve it. Those compositions haven’t reached even Indians and that’s because we are poor souls to acknowledge great composers but future will certainly hail Maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s compositions. May be after a
century.