Friday, July 07, 2006

Coffee Day? Naa....h!!!

It was another day in my hometown and I decided to meet a friend in Coffee day the same evening.

Somehow on the way to coffee day, I was wondering if we should actually go there, since its so common and not happening. I reached early and I was waiting. I called my friend and he was in Food world, opposite coffee day, buying grocery! Well!!! He said, he had come in early and made use of the waiting time to shop for his house. Sensible fellow.

Anyways, after a ten minutes wait, he arrived with loads of carry bags filled with groceries. I was tired just looking at him. Well he’s a big guy, and looked like he enjoyed carrying the load and doing the balancing act! We found a place to sit. The seats were too low and the distance between us was quite a bit. We started to talk but could hardly hear each other coz of the loud hip hop playing in the background. Now is this what you call a cool evening? Quite a turn off.

Suddenly, something struck to my mind. I told him that there’s a temple nearby, should we visit? He agreed in a jiffy. He’s a nice guy, not a fuss. We checked-in his luggage :) at the security close by and we decided to walk to the temple.

It started getting so good. We walked all the way, beneath the trees on quiet roads, talking to each other, discussing a lot of things. My friend is a quick walker, so I literally had to run to match his pace! Well, I managed somehow! :)

Talking about our varied experiences of life and some common friends stuff, we reached the temple. We could hear bhajans. Leaving our footwears in the counter, I washed my feet and hands and headed inside, towards Lord Anjaneya’s deity. My friend followed me quickly. I prayed and so did he. We went round the temple took teertham, stood in the queue for some prasadham. Then we sat down at a place and hogged on the prasadham, which was a few scoops of hot tasty pongal. Was simply superb! We kept talking and discussing things. We washed our hands, collected our footwears and headed back.

On our way back, I showed him my school, my childhood playing areas, the roads that I have walked almost 10 years of my life, and finally my friend realized that I was panting a lot and he decided to slow down a bit. We came back chatting under the cool winds of the trees…

We checked-out his luggage and headed back to our destinations…feeling good about the whole evening conversations and discussions…

All in all, it was a wonderful experience to go to a temple that evening, with a friend, on calm roads without any noise, praying in the temple, and gulping up the prasadam. Neither did we strain ourselves, nor did we shell out any money, nor did we sit idle on a couch, tolerating the so-called hi-fi techno crowd and not to forget, the cigarette smoke and the loud (almost deafening) music!

Try it out next time. After all, how many of us visit temples more often than coffee hang-outs?

So now, say coffee day…naaa……….h!!!

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

There's something about Kalyani - definitely not the 'K' factor :)

A complete blend of raaga, thaala, shruthi, dhwani (voice), uchharane (pronunciation) and dhyaana (conciousness) results in good singing.

However, there are some raagas that give you the 'feel good' factor when you sing, of which one of my favorites is 'Kalyani'. Being a sampoorna raaga, it is a tough one to sing. But the way swara combinations can be made in this raaga, is simply superb. The swara sthaanas are such that it allows you to express emotions in rendering the raaga. While music itself is a way of expression, Kalyani is very close to my heart.

Being a core carnatic music lover, this is just to share one of my experiences.

Check out more information on Kalyani - Ilayaraja - Tamil Songs - Raaga usage at:
http://hawkeyeview.blogspot.com/2004/06/ilayaraja-and-kunnakudi-vaidhyanathan.html

by another fan of kalyani...:-)

Every morning, watching through the bus window...

I kickstart my day with my bus journey every morning. Watching outside the window, i switch on my ipod, i start sailing in thoughts.

Through the window - I see my house, my parents, i hear conversations between my mother and father, i listen carefully to three little girls who are playing together and giggling loudly in cheer, i smell rice getting cooked in the kitchen, i smile to myself coz these are the fond memories of home, that has just passed and i have such precious moments to cherish...

Then I realize that i am moving ahead in life, each day is a challenge to face, each moment is a life to live...

Isn't traveling an amazing experience? :)