Pancharathna Krithis

Singing pancharathna krithis for Thyagaraja Aradhane along with my music teacher felt great this year. This was on Jan 07, 2007. So I must say, 2007 KICK Started for me! Just felt like penning down some fond memories attached to each krithi that I have learnt :)

Endharomahaanu - This was the first pancharathna I learnt. I think I was 14 years then. Seeing the length of the song itself made me faint. However, those days my learning skills were very quick and I learnt it soon and when I sang in front of my relatives at home, they applauded me so much! I felt like one maha singer that time!

Dhudukugala - This is the second one, I found this a little tough although I picked up later and almost made me cry when I used to listen to meera aunty sing. O by the way, during the aradhane, they started of in such a low shruthi, 4.5 to be precise, that I picked higher octave and sang in contrast! :)

Jagadhanandha kaaraka - I took really long to write this down, college days your not used to writing too much, my speed reduced considerably! :) Not to forget the song in Anniyan - Iyengaaru veetu that picks after the first charanam! Incidentally, this happens to be the first song I sang in front of a student, who wanted to know how krithi is sung based on swaras.

Saadhinchane - I love the way Balamuruli has sung this. But this is such a lovely song, I used to always feel it is in Saama until I realized it is Aarabhi! :( Hope meera aunty is not reading my post! :) I used to practise late nights after work and trouble everyone at home singing the same few lines atleast 30 times till I got it right! :)

Kanakanaruchira - People have this belief that a teacher should not teach varaali to the student, either the student will stop learning or some hindrance will come up. Meera aunty never believed in that and taught me this one as well although I have not learnt this completely till date, I just know half half. :( Hope I complete this soon...does this mean, what people say is true? Will figure out soon!

Keep singing and keep enjoying music. Its worth anything and everything in life!

Happy weekend!

On Rama Navami

The 9th day of Chaitra Maasa is Rama Navami, the birth of Lord Rama. The most auspicious day for Hindus. For us, we do pooja at home to Lord Rama and Seetha’s deities, read Sri Rama Sahasranama and go to temple and 99% attend a music concert in Rama Mandir. Mostly Meera Aunty’s concert or any carnatic concert. Not to forget paanaka, gulp down 3-4 glasses at a time! I love to sing Rama’s krithis and Devi’s krithis. While Rama’s krithis makes me fall in love with Rama, Devi’s krithis give me an unprecedented strength within. For Rama Navami, here’s the list of my known Rama’s songs learnt since childhood, been singing till now, and still love to sing:

1. Ramachandram Bhavayami – Raaga Vasantha
2. Raama Nee Samaanamevaru – Raaga Kharaharapriya
3. Maamava Pattabhirama – Raaga Manirangu
4. Ra Ra Rajeeva Lochana – Raaga Mohana
5. Brocheva – Raaga Khamach
6. Jesinadhella Marachitivo Raama – Raaga Thodi
7. Sri Rama Chandra Krupalu Bhajamana – Bhajan in Yaman
8. Deva Devam Bhaje – Devaranama in Hindolam
9. Raama Raama – Devaranama in Thillang
10. Seetha Kalyana – Suruti
11. Jagadhanandhakaraka – Pancharathna – Naata
12. Endharomahanubhavulu – Pancharathna – Shri

Not to forget:

13. Nepogadakunte - Shubhapanthuvaraali

14. Needhayaraadha - Vasantha bhairavi

15. Bantureethi kolu - Hamsanaadha

16. Khelathi mama hrudaye - Atthaana

17. Bhajare maanasa - Abheri

Should I include some fusions?

-> Mama Mama Shri Hari Rama? :) Tempting!!!

Well that’s for my Rama Navami to my Lord Rama. Will I be able to sing this year? Only Lord Rama knows. :)

Happy Rama Navami. God bless you.

Stressed?

I see stress all around, whomever I meet, whomever I talk to, and including my own self, STRESS is THE word buzzing everywhere. We imagine that our life is so horrible and everyone is enjoying their lives except me. But wait and look around, each one has their own set of problems. And then, there's no time for us to unwind. What to do?

Slow down and enjoy things that really matter to you in day to day life. Sometimes your outbox feels squeezed and shut with all the 'to-dos' pending in the inbox. It's time to simplify life. That's the only way to do things that you like, reading, traveling, music, exercising, friends, etc. Look for ways to simplify daily chores by organizing your day better, or even changing some old habits by simply saying 'No' or even by asking for help. Slowing down helps you balance your physical, mental and emotional health. So slow down and take a chill pill. Relax and enjoy life.

Admirer

Every evening when I get out of office and walk to the bus stop, I see him waiting for me. He waits so patiently everyday till I arrive. I feel good inside and chuckle to myself, although I try to ignore him. I sit inside the bus and open the curtains; he’s still waiting and starring at me. I joined my hands and told him to get lost and the bus started to move. He started to follow me! God he is truly so daring. I shut my eyes to avoid seeing him, he still wouldn’t go. I turned my face on the other side, he still waited and looked at me through the window with love. While we continued to play hide and seek, he started to set in the orange clouds promising to come and see me again tomorrow, leaving beautiful colors in the sky especially for me…cant wait to see him again in the evening! ;)

My trip to Agra

I visited Agra over the weekend. We drove from Delhi to Agra, the Delhi – Agra highway is a simply super(b) 3.5 hours stretch and you land in Agra. An old city with a lot of history behind, ruled by the Mughals, starting from Babur > Humayun > Akbar > Jehangir > Shahjahan > Augrangzeb, once the capital of India during Akbar’s reign, now famous for Taj Mahal, is an interesting city today.

Buzzing with cyclists, cycle-rickshaws, tongas, autos, tones of two-wheelers on dusty dry roads, with old forts and buildings on one side, and chauffer driven camry, Honda city, safari, endeavour, Mercedes on the other hand with firangs inside sitting stylish, dying to get to Taj Mahal, was an interesting sight! Right from the beginning, you get to see street-side shops selling the ever-famous Pethas (pumkin burfis soaked in sugar syrup, yummy!) – kesar petha, coconut petha, gulab, khas, angoori petha, wow wide range of sweets and lots of hotels, including pizza hut, mc donald’s, udupi hotel and dasprakash on the stretch that leads to Taj Mahal. Seemed like tourism is a main business in Agra. The streets are filled with handicraft bazaars, esp the Sanjay Palace, Maal Road areas.

On day 1, we headed to see the world famous Taj Mahal, with mixed reviews ringing in my head, from tones of people, saying its dirty, turned yellow now due to pollution, Yamuna is so polluted, Taj has lost its charm, blah blah…we reached the Taj entrance. They have battery operated buses that takes us to the gate which is about 1.5kms away from the parking. These buses charge only Rs.4 per head accommodating around 15 people per trip. At the entrance, we pay around Rs.15 to enter and foreigners pay 5$. Having bought the ticket, we went inside, the entrance is dark like you enter a cave and as you walk out towards light, you see a magnificent white building almost like the full moon in the night sky, taking you from real to tranquil state and making you speechless…I shot pictures non-stop, took around 10-15 pictures at the entrance itself. You are hounded by tourists, photographers who bug you to let them shoot your picture and that’s very tempting. So we did that as well, posing in some ridiculous postures, although I refused to hold the head of Taj and take snap! God! That’s embarrassing or what!!!

Walking among loads of tourists, I withdrew myself into my shell and so did my thoughts. I started walking and stepped on the marble stairs went up stood in front of the Taj Mahal and it was breath taking. The flooring, designs, the optical-illusions the walls, the roof cutting, the calmness, silence, white purity, is so peaceful in its own way. Just go there to sit calm for a few minutes, forget Mumtaz forget Shahjehan, just enjoy the place in your thoughts and dreams, what you love to be, what you love to do, and even probably hum your favourite song!

Kaatradithu adaivadhille kaadhal adhu dhaan
Saatchi ennu nirkiradhu tajmahal dhaan…

Day 2 we went to Agra Fort, the fort of Akbar the great, from where Shahjehan used to see Taj Mahal from his prison. It’s beautiful. You feel like you have gone back to history. I felt like a queen walking in my own palace and I kept describing which part was my bedroom, my sitting room, my music practice room, my evening walk area, my playing area, etc etc. I felt so good! Reading little notes on the marble blocks right from Memoirs (oops! My blog name carved on Marble in Agra Fort!!!) of Akbar to Aurangzeb’s cruel regime was interesting.

On the way back, we bought some foot wear, since Agra is famous for leather, saw some superbly woven hand made carpets that were highly expensive ranging from 7K to 8K for a 6x4 feet carpet. Not to forget the tongue tickling chaat – aloo tikki, gol gappa, gulab jamuns, pav bhaji on sadha(r) bazaar.

Stay in Holiday Inn was pleasant.

Was a good and pleasant experience. Masala Tea on the way back in the road-side dhaba added more masala to the trip! Hail Taj Mahal!!! Hail Agra!!!

Excerpts from "Being A.R.Rahman"

Happened to watch this programme on CNN IBN on Sunday, around 00:00 hours, an interview of ARR (which I hope was not relaid before). Here are some of the interesting lines:
Interviewer: How do you unwind from your routine?
ARR: Music itself is like unwinding activity all through. One whole lifetime is not enough for it, where is the time to unwind from music?
Interviewer: You manage your music business on your own, you know so much about copyrights, distribution, etc, how do you do that?
ARR: If you dont do that, you get conned in the film industry. I am a father now and I have to think on those aspects. Its a switch-on - switch-off mode.
Interviewer: People say that ARR's music is still innocent as a child...
ARR: I enjoy what I do, else it wont reach out to you. The times when I dont do that, it shows in the music.
Interviewer: Of late, you are using a lot of your own voice...top ones - Dil Se, Swades and then for the first time Shehnai was used in the song in different style - other then the usual marriage scenes..and bgms
ARR: In a way, its nothing better than delivering your own baby, so that's the feeling I get when I sing my own songs and yes, people also like it. Swades was composed when I was in U.K. I was just watching out of the window and these tunes came to my mind and I decided to use Shehnai in the song.
Interviewer: You sing a lot of tamil songs in your shows, hasn't that been talked about?
ARR: Yes, I do that. Lot of Tamil audience enjoyed that, while Hindi audience did not enjoy much, but I do that even now, I perform in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, so its like National Integration, and people like it.
Interviewer: About religious lines..some XYZ writer said, having Mohammad in a name gets recognized like you are from a terrorist background, so how do you see that?
ARR: Yes, people ask me if I am Tamil, Srilankan, etc, but every religion / sect has had its own phase, at one point it was Christians, I guess now it is Muslims, but it is all temporary and I hope and aspire it will be fine.

It was a simple sensible talk, and very very interesting. For those who missed it, may be you can get it somewhere on the internet.

Hero Pen!!!

Yesterday, to write something at work, I just took out this old gel pen and like the way we shake an ink pen, I did that and started to write. After finishing, I closed the book and just noticed to my shock that all my fingers were blue in color. There was ink all over!!! Three of my fingers completely stained by ink! I felt so good to see that after aaaaaaaages...!

In childhood, we were not allowed to use ink pens in school till we reached middle school. Using ink pens was as good as holding a piece of jewel for we girls. I used to always eye my akka's pens and meddle with it, till she scolded me to not touch her pen...:( From 1st to 4th standard, we used to use pencils (ofcourse, in that also tonnes of range, natraj, camel, flora, fauna, what not! not to forget pen pencil heheheh!!!). Then the minute we finished 4th exams, pen hunt will start from end summer holidays itself. In the initial days, we would get ordinary ink pen - screw / unscrew types, fill ink with one tube, one huge nib that would always leak and stain paper, hands, uniform! everyday filling ink, showing off in school used to be major activity. Ofcourse, we would carry ink rubber, chalk piece, blotting paper, God! Then after reaching high school, we would get legacy pens, used by akka for 5 years. This pen was the HERO pen! What a feeling it used to be. My handwriting used to be great then! I remember, during exams, we used to get these answer sheets that used to be of such poor quality. Whenever I tried to erase something written using my hero pen, the paper used to tear and then there would be a kutti hole in the answer sheet...hahahah!!! Superb childhood days.

In 10th standard public exam ended that tale of hero pen. I never used it after that. But having ink on my fingers felt great! Try it! :)

Madhusree vs SS

I keep listening to a lot of songs sung by Sadhana Sargam (SS). Once in a while when I listen to Madhusree's voice, suddenly it feels like Sadhana Sargam's voice.

SS has sung great songs from several years. ARR gave major songs to SS like Snehidhane (alaipayuthe), Kalai Dhinam (new), Swasame (thenali), Karthik Raja's Un Perai Sonnale (Dum Dum Dum), which are excellently sung by SS and ofcourse many more great magical numbers. Of late, ARR is using a lot of Madhusree's voice in several songs, mostly hindi and some in Tamil also. If you notice, Mayilirahe (Ah Aah), Kabhi Neem Neem (Yuva), Pal Pal Hain Bhari (Swades), Ek Lo Ek Muft (Guru). Somehow I am not at all convinced with Madhusree's singing. I feel ARR could have used SS for all these hindi songs including Mayilirahe which I feel got spoilt although Naresh Iyer is marvellous. Wonder why ARR is sidelining SS. He may be experimental, exploring new voices, etc. He gave lot of songs to Swarnalatha once upon a time, for example in Karuthamma - Porale Ponnu Thaayi, to Kummi Adi in JOK. Swarnalatha sounds great in all these numbers and ARR's choice of voice is commendable. But wonder why ARR uses Madhusree so often. At one point ARR experimented with Nithyashree's voice as well in cinema. Thank God he gave her pure classical based songs and stopped with just a few. Nithyashree is great and my due respect to her classical singing. But again, I felt her voice did not suit playback singing very well.

Whenever I listen to SS's songs, it never leaves me with a bitter feeling, somehow Madhusree's style is not that impressive.

Maaya

Hatthira bandhare dhoora nillu yennuve,
Dhoora hodhashtu hatthira iddhanthiruve
Manassina prathiyondhu maathannu kaddhu keluve
Horage thalli haakadhanthiruve
Neenu nijave maayave?

Prathidhina poojisuva aa devaralli ninna kaanuve
Obbale nadeyuvaagalella ninna neralannu muttalu oduve
Muttidhare yelli nanna kaiyannu hididhukolluveyo yendhu hedharuve
Bhayadhalli matthe hindhe noduve
Neenu nijave maayave?

Baalina sihiyalli, kanneerinalli neeniruve,
Hrudayadha sangeethadhalli neeniruve,
Thegedhu haakuva manassenagilla,
Yedheya midithavannu kelisuva dhairyavilla
Ee sihi novalli naraluva shakthiyilla,
Neenu nijave maayave?

Mounadhalli aathmavanne muttiruve,
Maathinalli manassannu keralisiruve,
Innyaava janumadhallu bayasadha aaseyaagiruve,
Prakruthiya niyamagale vismaya, adharallu nanna bimbave,
Neenu nijave maayave?

Pleasures of this season

The last four months back home was a great learning phase for me. Here are the little pleasures from my daily life that made me feel good.

• As soon as I take bath in the morning and get ready for pooja, Amma’s tension to keep the pooja things ready – the way she cuts jasmine garland into kutti pieces…:) so that I could do that pooja soon and light deepa quickly and don’t get late to work. :) . I find that very sweet. :)
• Idly –sambhar tiffin with Appa every evening while driving back from work in his antique Fiat, where appa used to bring the plate to the car itself, without even letting me step out of the car, and that superb filter coffee. :) my all time favorite! What a feeling!
• My music teacher telling a visitor that I am her oldest student and I sing well. :) Wow! A compliment that came from her mouth, though not directly to me felt great! :)
• Driving new Alto listening to FM in Kannada.
• Eating prasadham in the stairs of Raama Mandir with Amma.
• Relishing hot chilli bajji in Malleswaram Market, yummy!!!
• My little nephew telling me so innocently that he will fly with me in the aeroplane to Delhi. :)
• Varun teasing me that he will find me a suitable guy to date who will spend lavishly on me! Cheap! Yet funny! :)
• Riding my old Scooty in full speed, yet hardly reaching only 40 kms/hr! :)
• Watching Mungaaru Male in Majestic, Sagar theater with Akka and Amma and listening to people's whistles and claps and dances for every song sequence, dialogues, etc, felt so good and at home, as compared to the lousy movie watching in U.K's luxurious theaters. :)
• Realizing that Appa was such a child when I shouted at him to take care of his health and he just kept nodding his head. :)
• The first sight of my new born niece with her irritated and angry expression, exactly like my sister’s face, was mesmerizing. :)
• My childhood friend holding my hand and telling me, “God! When did you become so mature?!!!” :)
• My nephew sitting on my left lap when I am practicing music and listening with complete patience – came to me as a shock initially, but now I feel proud of him and his interest!
• My brother calling me up during riots and asking me if I have reached home safe or if I need to be picked from work. :)
• Laughing with Appu, almost rolling of the floor when we saw our specially chosen gifts brought from Kenya, by none other than our tribal queen – Shalini and remembering our black magic days!!! :)
• “What time do you need a call?” :) Will that ever happen again? :)
• An old friend coming to hospital to see me with freshly prepared Mosambi juice, which I gulped down in seconds! Ooops! :) Dint realize until she told this to another friend the next day! :)
• Shopping for Sankranthi in commercial street with Varun…:) managing to get a car parking also!
• Watching the watchman starring at me while scrutinizing Sakshi apartments, 2nd floor and sharing old memories with memoirs. :)
• Winning free Valentine’s gift in Lifestyle! :)
• Driving around in Bangalore and passing by the same road where once upon a time I would wait and wait for buses or autos…:)
• Music class every Saturday morning, what a pleasure! Gives me the ultimate moksha feeling! :)
• Seeing my nephew eagerly waiting to be carried as soon as I enter the house from work! :) Simply relieves from all my tensions.
• Stealthily reading my 3 year old nephew’s panchatantra tales in the night with greater interest and speed than ever before! :)
• Watching my sister’s mother-in-law (who is 80 years old) clapping her hands for almost every krithi of MSS in my car! May be even I will end up like this one day! :) Will I? :)
  
  I wish and only wish that all the people connected to me in one way or the other, stay happy, healthy, and peaceful all their lives.

Motherhood

After going to Art of Living session last evening, there was definitely a feel good factor and calmness set in me. Listening to Sadhinchane by Balamurli I drove back home with a lot of thoughts on my mind. I went home and was happy to see everyone. I had a good dinner and helped in some house work and was about to crash on my bed. My sister suddenly called me from the room and told me to baby sit her new born son for the next thirty minutes since she was busy with some things. I said okay…since I was tired and it was 00:00 hours already!

My new nephew is a sweet little angel, he is chubby, he is adorable and just too cute almost like a little stuffed toy. The minute she left the room he started crying and I was suddenly woken up from my world and all my senses got activated in a jiffy! I just checked his nappy and it was wet! Phew! I said to myself and started changing his nappy although he continued his crying session. As soon as I finished that and took him in my hands and kept him on my lap, he quitened down immediately and shut his eyes!!! I was shocked and relieved too. Thank God he kept quiet! And then slowly I started humming Gopiya Bhaagya, a raagamalika, starting with behaag, and I kept observing his expressions, I got so immersed in him that I even finished the 4 paragraph song so quickly without even realizing! It felt beautiful…it is an inexplicable feeling to have a baby sleeping in your arms in peace. Motherhood must truly be a blessing is what I felt.